Sources: Browns name Rees, ex-ND QB, as OC

The Cleveland Browns are promoting tight ends coach and pass game specialist Tommy Rees to offensive coordinator, a source told ESPN.

The two sides reached an agreement today for Rees to replace Ken Dorsey, who was fired after one season.

Last season was Rees’ first in Cleveland after serving as the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama for the 2023 season. Rees, 32, also served as the University of Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator from 2020 to 2022. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Rees was considered the favorite to land the North Carolina football head coaching job if Bill Belichick had not been hired. Rees also played quarterback at Notre Dame for four seasons.

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, who called plays for the first four seasons in Cleveland before giving the duties to Dorsey midseason, said he wanted to go through the interview process before making a decision on calling plays in 2025.

The promotion of Rees is the first big move this offseason for the Browns as they attempt to fix an offense that struggled under a new-look approach in 2024. The team brought in Dorsey to help shape a spread-out, RPO-based scheme around quarterback Deshaun Watson. But Watson posted the lowest Total QBR in the NFL before tearing his Achilles in Week 7. The Browns last week announced that Watson underwent a second surgery after retearing his Achilles and would likely miss a significant portion of the 2025 season.

Next for the Browns is solving their quandary at quarterback. The only other quarterback under contract for the 2025 season is 2023 fifth-round pick Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Cleveland has the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NFL draft and is expected to consider options in free agency as well as the draft.