Former assistant fuels Browns camp drama
Responds to Wylie’s jabs by threatening to dismiss any leakers.
Freddie Kitchens blasts last year’s offensive line coach, Bob Wylie, who implied he should not have been named head coach.
Longtime offensive line BEREA — coach Bob Wylie delivered verbal jabs over the weekend, and Browns coach Freddie Kitchens countered with haymakers.
As a guest on CBS Sports Radio’s The Zach Gelb Show, Wylie said he was shocked a little bit when the Browns hired Kitchens in January as their head coach because Gregg Williams is the one who, as interim coach, led their turnaround in the final half of the 2018 season.
Wylie also said he and several other former Browns assistant coaches did heavy lifting behind the scenes to prop up Kitchens as a first-time offensive coordinator, only to be discarded when he landed the top job. Wylie, who suffered a dislocated right ankle and a torn up left knee late in the season, said no one in the organization ever told him he wouldn’t be retained, leaving his daughter to inform him of media reports about his fate while he was hospitalized.
“Listen, Bob wasn’t under contract,” Kitchens said Monday after the 10th practice of training camp. “He forgot to tell everybody that. He wasn’t under contract. He had talked about retiring forever, all
right? So sometimes when a person says something, they have to be made to feel relevant, OK?
“Bob’s a good person, and I don’t want to lose sight of that. I have too much respect for him as a person. What I would say, though, is what got lost in the shuffle is what really mattered and what we’re doing right now.”
Although Kitchens wants the focus to be on the 2019 Browns, he provided lengthy answers to a few questions about Wylie’s remarks. In the process, he warned his assistant coaches about the consequences of leaking information to media.
“The days of inside information and the days of unnamed sources and stuff like that have ended,” Kitchens said. “So you’re not going to get any information like that ever — anybody. And if I ever see it, they’re fired — immediately. That’s the way we’re running this organization. And I can take it. [General Manager] John Dorsey can take it. We won’t crack. I promise you.”
Wylie opined Dorsey didn’t hire Williams because the GM didn’t want a power struggle.
“My own personal feeling is Gregg was too strong a candidate for the seat,” Wylie said, “and I don’t think 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.”
In response to Wiley claiming Williams would be too strong a head coach for Dorsey’s taste, Dorsey said Monday, “It had zero to do with it.”
Asked if Wiley is bitter because the Browns didn’t bring him back, Dorsey said, “He has a right to say what’s on his mind. He said it. I don’t live in the past.”
Wiley pointed to quarterback Baker Mayfield as the main reason Kitchens landed the gig.
“Baker likes Freddie,” Wylie said. “There’s a good relationship there, even though [former Browns quarterbacks coach] Kenny Zampese did all the coaching there. Baker likes Freddie, so that had to [factor] into the decision.”
Kitchens said none of the coaches deserves credit for the Browns going 5-3 in the second half of last season to finish 7-8-1. He stressed it’s all about the players.
“I’ve never wanted any appreciation,” Kitchens said. “I’ve never asked for any tooting of my horn or anything like that, but we seem to ask for it. Well, what about the players? What did the players do? Did they have anything to do with the turnaround? Because I really, truly feel that this game is about the players. 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. It’s about them. But when do they get their credit? Because they had to make a conscious decision to turn it around, and they did that.
“Bob doesn’t wear brown and orange anymore. I had the opportunity to hire Bob. I didn’t want to. I went to the hospital to see Bob every week he was in the hospital. All right? I FaceTimed Bob before every game before we went out as a staff just so he would continue to feel a part of it. So at what point does Bob realize that it was the players and not the coaches that turned it around?”
Kitchens said twice he wouldn’t expound on his reaction to Wylie. But then Kitchens proceeded to get more thoughts about the topic off his chest.
“I don’t care what he says about me,” Kitchens said. “I can take it. But the players turned it around. Those guys that he coached gave up five sacks the last eight games of the year. That’s it. Bob did a hell of a job.
“Whoever wants the credit can get it, but I know this: I know where the credit needs to be. It needs to be on the players because they made a decision to do it. Not Bob. Not me. Not anybody. Bob didn’t go out and play a down. The players did.
“I hired the guys I wanted to hire, for a reason, and it’s all-encompassing. And I feel like our staff will stay together, no matter what. I feel like our staff will pull in the same direction, no matter what. And I feel like our staff will put the players first, just like me. Because it’s demanded. Because I know that’s how you win.”