Kitchens says Wylie knows what happened

Former offensive line coach Bob Wylie unloaded on his former employer during an interview on radio.

Freddie Kitchens is not that “Aw, shucks, I’m just a good ‘ol boy” he might appear to be with his ever-present ball cap, Alabama accent, love of country music and Santa Claus belly.

Former Browns offensive line coach Bob Wylie on Aug. 3 unloaded on his former employer during an appearance on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Radio.

Among other things, Wylie also said former quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese, not Kitchens, should get credit for developing rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield last season.

Wylie said he learned from his daughter he had been fired while he was in the hospital recovering from an ankle injury suffered during practice last season.

Kitchens was asked about Wylie’s comments Aug. 5 after practice in Berea. The subject did not come up after the Orange and Browns scrimmage Aug. 3. Players had Aug. 4 off.

Wylie told Gelb he was “shocked” the Browns chose Kitchens over Gregg Williams to be head coach. Williams was interim head coach the last eight games of 2018. Kitchens was promoted to offensive coordinator. The Browns went 8-3.

“That shocked me a little bit, because Gregg Williams actually turned the team around,” Wylie told Gelb. “My own personal feeling is Gregg was too strong a candidate for the seat. I don’t think (Browns GM John) Dorsey wanted to go head-to-head with Williams like he had to do with Andy Reid in Kansas City. So he kind of filtered Gregg out of the picture when he kept the search going.

“Baker likes Freddie. There’s a good relationship there, even though (former quarterbacks coach) Kenny Zampeze did all the coaching there.”

Kitchens seemed reluctant to respond at first. And then he responded.

“I would say this: I know Bob Wylie to be a good person, and out of respect to his family, I won’t get into any of that,” Kitchens said. “He’s a father. He’s a husband. He’s a granddad. I would just say this about that whole situation. Bob knows what happened, and when he was here, he knew everything about it.

“Bob wasn’t under contract. He forgot to tell everybody that. He talked about retiring forever. Sometimes when a person says something, they have to be made to feel relevant. Bob’s a good person, and I don’t want to lose sight of that. What got lost in the shuffle is we just had 40,000 at the stadium for a practice, where all the proceeds went to the Get Started initiative the Browns have done. That got lost in the shuffle of what happened last year.”

The comment about Wylie not being under contract was in response to Wylie claiming the Browns fired him when he was in the hospital. The Browns did not fire Wylie. They hired former Packers offensive line coach James Campen to replace him.

“My daughter called me and said, ‘Hey, dad, you just got fired today,’” Wylie told Gelb. “That’s the first time I heard about it. I was lying in a hospital bed. They packed up my office and they put my office in storage because I was still in the hospital. So that’s how it all kind of went down. That stuff happens in the National Football League.”

Wylie, 68, is not coaching this season. He has made 15 coaching stops starting with coaching the offensive line at Brown University in the Ivy League in 1980.

“I truly feel this game is about the players,” Kitchens said Aug. 5. “It’s not about me. It’s not about Bob. It’s not about the staff. Our job is to get them ready to play.

“Bob doesn’t wear the brown and orange anymore. I had the opportunity to hire Bob. I didn’t want to. I went to see Bob every week he was in the hospital. I facetimed Bob before every game before we went as a staff just so he would continue to feel a part of it. At what point does he realize it was the players and not the coaches that turned (last season) around.”

This will not be the last fire Kitchens has to put out, but he showed he knows how to use a hose.