Chad O'Shea to be Browns Receivers Coach, Passing Game Coordinator
Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has made his first hire of an assistant coach outside the organization, bringing in Chad O'Shea to be the team's wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator. O'Shea was the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins this past season and wasn't bad. Considering the limitations the Dolphins dealt with in terms of talent, he seemed to do remarkably well, so when it was announced he was fired, it raised a few eyebrows. There was a belief that they were intending to promote Jerry Schuplinski to protect him from being poached by Josh McDaniels who at the time was expected to be a head coach.
O'Shea not only crossed paths with McDaniels with the New England Patriots, but he was also an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings, where he met Stefanski in 2006, staying until 2008. For the Vikings, he functioned as an offensive assistant, wide receivers coach and assistant special teams coach. O'Shea was the Patriots wide receiver coach from 2009 to 2018, which is how Brian Flores knew him to give him the offensive coordinator gig this past season.
O'Shea replaces Adam Henry, who took the same position with the Dallas Cowboys in the past few days. Beyond the fact that O'Shea had familiarity with Stefanski where Henry didn't, there were some who believed that Henry was simply too familiar with Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry, which resulted in a lack of discipline, which reared its ugly head this past season with multiple issues on the sideline between the high profile receivers and head coach Freddie Kitchens.
Whether Henry was truly at fault for that, the lack of decorum and respect on their parts did not do him any favors. The position also took a step back this season, which is likely not Henry's fault. The year previous, Henry looked pretty good with Rashard Higgins having a nice season, Breshad Perriman resurrecting his career and some sparks from Derrick Willies. This season, Higgins was buried on the bench, seemingly over an ongoing issue with Kitchens, Perriman was in Tampa and Willies tore his ACL.
O'Shea has a big job in front of him with Landry and Beckham, plus trying to find productive options from players like Damion Ratley, KhaDarel Hodge, Derrick Willies and some other options, both on the roster and what else they might add in the offseason.
