Stefanski is making an in-season change to hand the play-calling duties over to the Browns’ offensive coordinator for a second straight year. Billie Weiss / Getty Images

The desperate Cleveland Browns continue to search for answers as another miserable season goes along, and the latest move is a change in the play-calling duties.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski announced on Monday, as the team returned from its bye week, that first-year offensive coordinator Tommy Rees will take over as the play caller beginning with Sunday’s game at the New York Jets. Stefanski cited a need to create explosive plays and “fix those areas of trouble” the team encountered with two different starting quarterbacks and seven different starting offensive line combinations over the first eight games.

The 2-6 Browns rank last in the league in yards per play (4.1), 31st in total yards per game (263.5) and 30th in points per game (15.8). Rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel has mostly thrown short, quick passes over his first four starts, and the wide receiving corps has not consistently produced.

When the Browns haven’t been able to run effectively with rookie running back Quinshon Judkins, they’ve struggled to maintain any offensive success. Gabriel threw two interceptions as the Browns got blitzed by the New England Patriots, 32-13, in their last game on Oct. 26.

Stefanski also gave up the play-calling duties around midseason last year to then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. Though quarterback Jameis Winston got hot and put up big numbers in two games, he was benched last December and Cleveland lost its final six games to finish 3-14. Dorsey was fired in the hours after the season ended.

Tommy Rees will be the play caller on offense this Sunday pic.twitter.com/OtoJEZAEql

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) November 3, 2025

From Week 13 last season until this year’s 31-6 win over Miami in Week 7, which was mostly spurred by the Cleveland defense, the Browns went 11 straight games without scoring more than 17 points. Stefanski is a two-time NFL Coach of the Year and is in his sixth season in charge. He’s started every season as the team’s play caller and kept the duties this year after promoting Rees from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator in January.

Stefanski said Monday that Rees is “more than capable. Bottom line is, we have to get better collectively.” Rees previously called plays at Notre Dame and Alabama before he joined the Browns in early 2024.

The Browns benched quarterback Joe Flacco after four games and traded him to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 7. They previously traded Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders in late August after what had been advertised as a four-man competition for the starting job became Flacco clearly winning it. Then Flacco was eventually benched.

Gabriel played well and threw two touchdown passes in his starting debut in London on Oct. 5, but he’s been shaky at best since then. The Browns need more from their wide receiving corps, as their No. 1 receiver, Jerry Jeudy, had no catches against the Patriots and has seven drops this season.

Judkins left the team’s last game with a shoulder injury but was back to practice on Monday. Wide receiver Cedric Tillman was back at practice, too, after he missed the last four games with a hamstring injury that landed him on injured reserve. Tillman is expected to be activated and return this week.

Nov 3, 2025

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Zac Jackson is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Cleveland Browns. He is also the host of the “Zac Jackson and Friends” podcast. Previously, Zac covered the Browns for Fox Sports Ohio and worked for Pro Football Talk. Follow Zac on Twitter @AkronJackson