After an abrupt ending to his tenure with the Buffalo Bills last year, offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey didn’t find much more luck in his next NFL stop.
Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced on Jan. 5 that Dorsey, hired in the offseason to be the team’s offensive coordinator, had been fired one day after a dismal season finale. The Browns ended the season 3-14 and could be headed to an overhaul in the offseason.
The Browns’ offense struggled under Dorsey, enduring injuries and inconsistent play at quarterback and falling to their worst record since the team’s winless season in 2014.
Kevin Stefanski Announces Change for Former Bills Coach
Dorsey was let go on Sunday along with Browns offensive line coach Andy Dickerson, with Stefanski saying the team would be making some changes in the offseason.
“I think the world of those two guys as people, as coaches,” Stefanski said. “But we’re going to go in a different direction. … This is something that we all own, we all share in.”
As ESPN’s Dan Oyefusi noted, the Browns had one of the league’s worst offenses this season and entered Sunday ranked No. 28 in total offense and No. 32 in scoring.
“[Dorsey] was hired by the Browns in February to work under the offensive-minded Stefanski and help oversee an offense built around injury-plagued quarterback Deshaun Watson,” Oyefusi wrote. “But that vision never took off, as Watson posted the lowest Total QBR in the NFL and the Browns failed to reach 20 points in each of his seven starts.”
Watson suffered a season-ending Achilles tear on Oct. 20, with Stefanski handing over playcalling duties to Dorsey, Oyefusi wrote. Veteran quarterback Jameis Winston brought a spark to the team but later struggled with turnovers, throwing eight interceptions over three games before being benched for the season finale.
Ken Dorsey’s Tenure in Buffalo
Dorsey was named offensive coordinator in Buffalo after Brian Daboll left the same position to become head coach of the New York Giants in 2022.
He lasted a little more than a year,with Bills head coach Sean McDermott firing Dorsey in November 2023 as the team’s offense struggled.
“There’s been times when we have moved the ball and scored points, but those times, I believe, have become few and far between,” McDermott said at the time, via ESPN. “I can point to the Miami game [in Week 4], which I felt very good about, obviously, we scored on just about, if not every, drive there. But since that Miami game and really, before that, there were some times when I didn’t feel like we were moving the ball well enough and scoring points.
“So, it’s just — it’s the whole thing, right? The whole body of work. It’s not just off of two games or four games. It’s the entire season at this point.”
Dorsey was replaced by Bills quarterbacks coach Joe Brady, who helped lead the team to five consecutive wins to close out the season, giving them a fourth-straight AFC East title with a season finale win over the Miami Dolphins.
Brady helped lead the Bills to their highest-scoring season ever in 2024 and has become a hot candidate to earn a head coaching job.
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Ex-Bills Coach Fired From New Job After One Season