CLEVELAND — Ken Dorsey has control of Cleveland’s offense again.
The former Browns quarterback — and former Buffalo coordinator — has been hired by coach Kevin Stefanski as the team’s offensive coordinator, a person familiar with the hiring told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Dorsey was fired as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator in November. It’s not yet been decided if he’ll call plays for Cleveland, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Browns have not made any of their new coaching hires public.
Dorsey replaces Alex Van Pelt, who was fired by Stefanski just days after the Browns were beaten 45-14 by the Houston Texans in the wild-card round of the playoffs. Van Pelt had been with Cleveland since 2020. He declined a chance to stay with the club in another role.
Van Pelt, 53, interviewed for the OC opening in Las Vegas this weekend.
Along with running Cleveland’s offense, Dorsey will be tasked with getting all he can out of Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who has been limited to 12 starts over the past two seasons. Watson finally seemed to be returning to the Pro Bowl form he showed with Houston before breaking his right shoulder in Week 10.
Watson is expected to be ready for training camp.
Dorsey didn’t make it through two seasons with the Bills. He was let go in November by coach Sean McDermott during a surge in turnovers and puzzling regression by quarterback Josh Allen. The Bills finished the regular season strong — with Joe Brady as OC — and won the AFC East before losing in the playoffs last week at home to Kansas City.
It will be interesting to see if Stefanski is willing to give up play-calling. He has handled those duties since taking over the Browns in 2020.
Dorsey became Buffalo’s offensive coordinator in 2022 when Brian Daboll was hired as coach of the New York Giants. Dorsey previously worked as the Bills’ quarterbacks coach and had a solid rapport with Allen.
Dorsey played for Cleveland from 2006-08 and is one of 37 quarterbacks to start for the franchise since 1999.
Stefanski also interviewed Kellen Moore, who was reportedly hired Saturday by Philadelphia, along with Seattle offensive line coach Andy Dickerson, former Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson.
The 42-year-old Dorsey went 2-11 in 13 career NFL starts. He was 38-2 as a starter in college at Miami.
