For all the things new Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said during his introductory press conference, the most important for the Browns might be what wasn’t said by a certain person.
According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, owner Jimmy Haslam wasn’t at the podium and didn’t take questions from reporters — unlike his involvement after his previous three coaching searches.
While a media appearance might not matter, allowing something resembling a normal organizational chart is a good sign for an organization which has rarely been described as normal. The fact Haslam has presided over so many searches is the first bad sign. But he sat in the crowd at Monday’s press conference, and let General Manager John Dorsey take the fore in the public remarks and the search itself.
Dorsey said Kitchens will report to him instead of directly to the owner, but said it was a traditional flow chart.
“Freddie and I are going to work together on a day-in and day-out basis,’' said Dorsey. “There’s a belief of a traditional structure model in place and sometimes I think that’s best. But at the end of the day, Freddie and I are going to make an unbelievable amount of decisions together in unison, because we are such likeminded in our thinking. We are going to have daily and weekly conversations with ownership.
“That’s just a natural thing that you do. But at the end of the day, what’s best for the organization is the only thing that matters moving forward. And why not have two guys being able to collaborate and talk and just kind of work through things. It’s just healthy discussions to have.”
Dorsey also said something which shouldn’t necessarily have to be said by a team that is functional — that rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield wasn’t consulted in the decision on a head coach.
“Baker is a rookie,’' Dorsey said. “He still has a lot to learn in the National Football League. Freddie is going to get him to that plateau along with a lot of other coaches on that staff. At the end of the day, when you make selections like this, overarching and organizationally, let senior management begin the process, continue to process and then give it to ownership. Period.”
While those might seem like small steps, those are the kind of things stable franchises do. The Browns doing them feels like news.
