Entire staff to return; Bloom promoted

Ben Bloom, who in 2020 had the title of senior defensive assistant on the staff of Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, has been promoted to run game coordinator.

The announcement was made on Feb. 8. Stefanski’s entire coaching staff returns for the 2021 season.

“This means a lot,” Bloom said. “It’s a great organization — head coach, coordinator, front office and ownership — everyone’s been terrific to work with. It means a lot they’re willing to give me a new title. I appreciate the opportunity to continue working and do my best to help the team win.”

The Browns, 11-5 in the 2020 regular season and 1-1 in the playoffs, were ninth against the run, allowing an average of 110.8 rushing yards a game. Opponents were held under 100 yards in eight regular season games. The Steelers rushed for only 52 yards in the wild-card playoff game won 48-37 by the Browns.

Bloom coached the previous nine years with the Dallas Cowboys in various capacities, including twoyear stints as defensive line coach (2014-15) and linebackers coach (2018-19). He broke into coaching in

the NFL with the Browns in 2009 as a quality control coach.

“We’re all proud of what we were able to do this year,” Bloom said. “That’s a testament to the players working really hard and fighting through levels of adversity, and the whole coaching staff and football staff making it work together.

“The goal is to always get better. We think there’s plenty of room for growth and improvement. We’re in the process of identifying those things specifically now and making plans to continue to grow and improve.”

Bloom, 38, had a hand in developing the week to week game plan specific to

defending the run last year. His new title is a recognition of his contributions.

“I’m happy for Ben,” Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. “I didn’t know Ben when I came to Cleveland, but I knew of him. He’d worked with Rod Marinelli, who I have great respect for after I worked with him in Tampa Bay. I knew Ben was going to be about fundamentals, technique and playing hard, and that’s exactly what he brought to the table.

“Ben put together all of our run game game plans. He presented that to us as a staff and he presented it to the team. He’s very detailed, very thorough and knows exactly what you need to do to stop an opponent.

I’m happy for him and I’m glad we have a chance to keep him for at least another year.”

Though the coaches will be the same, they will likely be coaching a vastly different group of players. Defensive tackles Larry Ogunjobi and Vincent Taylor, defensive end Olivier Vernon, linebackers B.J. Goodson, Malcolm Smith, Elijah Lee and Tae Davis plus safeties Karl Joseph and Andrew Sendajo will be unrestricted free agents when the new league year begins March 17 if they don’t sign new contracts before then. Cornerbacks Kevin Johnson and Terrance Mitchell are also headed to free agency on the defensive side of the ball.

Bloom