Brad Childress is aboard as offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, but it's not yet known if he will call plays.
Since it's January the two have months to discuss the best way to handle play-calling, and a decision will be made over time.
Browns fans who didn’t like Shurmur’s approach last season might prefer that Childress calls the plays, but as head coach of the Vikings, Childress only called plays in 2006 – when the Vikings averaged 17 points. He gave duties to coordinator Darrell Bevell the following season, though he had final say in gameplans.
All that being said, the most important thing is that Shurmur has a guy on the staff he knows and trusts. If the two can work together – and they have in the past in Philadelphia – the play-calling situation would not seem to be a major impediment.
Childress brings 33 years of experience and great knowledge in the system that Shurmur wants to run. If nothing else, Childress would have considerable input and might be able to eliminate the four- and six-yard passes that seemed such a staple of the Browns offense last season.
His hiring does bring to mind one scene out of Ringling Bros. though.
That’s the one when a small car like a Volkswagen bug would drive into a circus. The door would open, and out would step a clown. Then another, and another, and another. So many clowns came pouring out it brought laughs and guffaws.
This comes to mind with the hiring of Childress because if you open the front door to Berea, out will walk client after client of agent Bob LaMonte, who now represents the Browns president (Mike Holmgren), general manager (Tom Heckert), coach (Shurmur) and offensive coordinator (Childress). It’s to the point in Berea that LaMonte represents the guy doing the hiring of the guy he’s representing.
This is all a sidenote, of course. Because if Childress makes the Browns offense better it doesn’t matter if he’s represented by Dumbo the Elephant.
Childress was offensive coordinator in Philadelphia under Andy Reid for four seasons (2002-’05), but Reid called the plays (as he does now). Childress went to Minnesota in 2006 and the Vikings offense improved every year from 26th to 15th to 12th to 2nd in points, and eighth to 20th to sixth to sixth in total offense.
Of course the final season when the Vikings went to the NFC Championship Game coincided with the arrival of Brett Favre. That was one of the best years of Favre’s career (33 TDs, seven INTs), and Childress failed epically the next season when he convinced Favre to return for one last fling. Favre was a shell of himself, and Childress was fired after the Vikings started 3-7.
Childress took a year off, but decided to return to coaching. He joined the Browns after interviewing to be Tampa Bay’s coach, only to see Rutgers’ Greg Schiano hired.
He didn’t have to work. Childress was due $6.6 million for the final two years of the contract extension he signed in Favre’s first year.
He joins a Browns offense that in Shurmur’s first season ranked 29th overall, and 30th in points.
One could say there’s nowhere to go but up.
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