Getty Baker Mayfield #6 of the Cleveland Browns talks with members of the coaching staff during training camp on August 16, 2020 at the Cleveland Browns training facility in Berea, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
The NFL coaching carousel is in full swing and the new leader of a struggling NFC team is looking to poach a member of the Cleveland Browns staff to run his offense.
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll is filling out his staff after the team made his hiring official on Friday, January 28. Daboll was initially interested in Buffalo Bills pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey to step up to offensive coordinator (OC) in New York, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. However, those plans changed after Dorsey was promoted to OC in Buffalo. While the Giants are considering several candidates, one of the top names on the board is Browns pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea, who coached alongside Daboll for several seasons while the two were part of the New England Patriots organization.
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Jordan Raanan, who covers the Giants for ESPN NFL Nation, reported New York’s interest in O’Shea via Twitter on Tuesday, February 1.
The Giants have been doing extensive interviews on potential offensive coordinators. Among those in the mix are Browns pass game coordinator/WR coach Chad O’Shea, per sources.
Connection to Brian Daboll from their time in New England.
“The Giants have been doing extensive interviews on potential offensive coordinators. Among those in the mix are Browns pass game coordinator/WR coach Chad O’Shea, per sources,” Raanan wrote. “Connection to Brian Daboll from their time in New England.”
Browns O’Shea is Primed For Second Shot at NFL OC Position With Giants
Getty ImagesHead coach Kevin Stefanski, of the Cleveland Browns.
O’Shea spent four years in the Patriots’ offensive meeting rooms with Daboll between 2013-16, when he was the wide receivers coach and Daboll was an offensive assistant who later took over coaching the team’s tight ends.
New England head coach Bill Belichick entrusted O’Shea to school his wideouts for a decade before O’Shea caught on with the Miami Dolphins as offensive coordinator in 2019. He joined the Cleveland staff in 2020, head coach Kevin Stefanski’s first year at the helm, and helped construct an offense around quarterback Baker Mayfield that saw the Browns win their first playoff game in more than 25 years. O’Shea and Stefanski had previously spent three years together, from 2006-08, as offensive assistants with the Minnesota Vikings.
This past season did not breed the same kind of offensive success in Cleveland, as the Browns dipped from an 11-5 record in 2020 to a 8-9 win/loss mark in 2021. An offer to run an offense in New York could prove tough for O’Shea to turn down, as he was afforded only one chance in Miami. That chance came during a season that former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores claimed Tuesday was part of a campaign in which franchise ownership waged war on its own chances of success.
As part of a class action lawsuit filed February 1 against the NFL, the Giants, the Dolphins and the Denver Broncos on Flores’ behalf, the recently fired Dolphins head coach said team owner Stephen Ross offered to pay him $100,000 per loss to tank for a higher draft pick. While Flores denied that he accepted the offer while appearing on ESPN’s morning show Get Up Wednesday, the picture he painted of the situation in Miami in 2019 doesn’t appear as though it was conducive to success.
On the other hand, the Browns have a roster more ready-made to win than do the Giants, even despite the offensive setbacks last season. Even if offered the position in New York with his old friend Daboll, O’Shea could choose to stay with his other old friend Stefanski and current Browns OC Alex Van Pelt and try to right the ship. Given O’Shea’s coaching connections and nearly 20-year history in the NFL, another OC job is bound to come up sooner than later, potentially even in Cleveland if things bounce the right way.
Browns Have Already Lost Two Position Coaches to NCAA This Offseason
GettyMyles Garrett, of the Cleveland Browns, looks on as he walks off the field after a 15-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 31, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
Should O’Shea depart Cleveland, he would be the third Browns coach to do so since the team’s season ended in early January.
Defensive line coach Chris Kiffin left the staff in mid-January after spending two years helping Cleveland develop one of the most fearsome defensive fronts in the NFL. Kiffin headed to the collegiate ranks to serve as defensive coordinator under his brother Lane Kiffin, who is the head coach at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss).
Just one day prior to news of Kiffin’s departure, Browns assistant defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett also left the team for an opportunity in the NCAA. Garrett announced that he would accept the position of defensive line coach at Liberty University.