This week the Browns announced the promotion of Tommy Rees from tight ends/passing game specialist coach to offensive coordinator. Rees is 32 years old and becomes one of the youngest coordinators in the league. He was a ball boy for the Browns at age 14 when his father Bill worked for the Browns as director of player personnel under GM Phil Savage. He started his coaching career at Northwestern in 2015 as an offensive graduate assistant. In 2016 he joined the Chargers as an offensive assistant. In January 2017, he returned to his alma mater Notre Dame to be the quarterback’s coach and on January 14, 2020, was promoted to offensive coordinator. Notre Dame finished 10-2 that year and lost to eventual national champion Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal. In 2023, he was hired by Nick Saban to be Alabama’s offensive coordinator. In 2024, Rees was hired by the Cleveland Browns.

So why Tommy Rees? Because of his youth, he can relate better to today’s NFL players. According to college and pro reports, including current Browns players, he communicates well and builds relationships. It doesn’t matter how smart a coach is if he can’t communicate and have the trust of his players. In 2023, Nick Saban called Rees, ” one of the brightest young coaches I’ve ever been around in a long time.” He can also get the best out his quarterback. In his one year with current pro prospect Jalin Milroe, Milroe had his best season. He passed for 2834 yards, 65.8 completion rate (career best), ten-yard average (career best), 23 touchdowns (career best) and a QBR of 172.2 (career best). He started all thirteen games and Alabama was 12-1.

Despite being a quarterback at Notre Dame, the offense’s his offenses in college ran the ball extremely well. According to Matt Wilson a writer for http://www.dawgsbynature.com, “Rees’ Notre Dame and Alabama offenses averaged 179.3 rushing yards per game over his four years at the collegiate level and his run/pass splits were fairly staggering. Over that same period, his offenses averaged 39.4 rush attempts per game to 28.5 pass attempts.”  Wilson also noted, “As an Offensive Coordinator at the highest level of collegiate football, he has a career W/L record of 42-10.”  Wilson also noted, “As an Offensive Coordinator at the highest level of collegiate football, he has a career W/L record of 42-10.”

Head coach Kevin Stefanski added about the hire, “Innovation is such a critical element to the offensive game-planning process and Tommy brings that,” Stefanski said. “Our intent is to build a sound and explosive offense that will put points on the board and I’m looking forward to working with Tommy to re-shape the Browns offense in 2025.”