Kevin Stefanski could have hired a veteran coach with experience as an NFL offensive coordinator to lead the Browns out of the scoring swamp they were in for most of 2024. Instead, he chose to give the job to the first candidate he interviewed. Tommy Rees, who in 2024 — his first year with the Browns — had the title of pass game specialist/tight ends coach, is the team’s new offensive coordinator. Rees replaces Ken Dorsey, who was fired after one year on Stefanski’s staff. The Browns, 3-14 in 2024, were last in the league with 258 points scored. Rees is 32 years old. That makes him about 18 months younger than Browns left guard Joel Bitonio. Should the Browns sign veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins in the offseason, Rees might be inclined to address him as “Sir” because Cousins is four years older than Rees. Youth does not disqualify Rees from the chance of being successful, however. He was the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama in 2023 and helped the Crimson Tide win the SEC championship and qualify for the college football playoffs. Rees spent six seasons as a coach at Notre Dame (2017-22), first coaching the quarterbacks and adding the role as offensive coordinator in 2020. In three years as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator, the team averaged more than 30 points per game each year and advanced to the College Football Playoffs in 2020 after posting an undefeated regular season. Rees was an offensive assistant for the then-San Diego Chargers in 2016. Quarterback Philip Rivers threw for 4,386 yards and 33 touchdowns that season. During his only season at Alabama, Rees coached Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe. The Browns have the second pick in the 2025 draft and the first pick in the second round — pick 33 overall. Rees would already be familiar with Milroe if the Browns draft him. Rees was a ball boy with the Browns in training camp in 2007 when he was 14 years old. His father, Bill Rees, was the Browns’ Director of Player Personnel from 2004-08. Tommy Rees benefitted in 2024 by working with Mike Vrabel. Vrabel was hired as a consultant with the Browns, but he spent most of his time working with the tight ends and offensive line. Apologies for the cliche, but Rees was like a sponge learning from Vrabel, the former head coach of the Titans and now head coach of the Patriots. “Just being able to see how he approached different players to reach guys that — not everybody learns the same way, not everybody takes coaching the same way, but his ability to reach guys and use different tactics, like that was critical for me,” Rees said Jan. 2. “The way he’s able to look at the game as a head coach and kind of a full picture of things. “So, to be able to hear that firsthand and be around it firsthand. And then, honestly, for me coming from college into the NFL, for a guy that spent most of his life in the NFL (Vrabel), just the nuances and some of the differences between the two games and hearing that from him was great.” Dolphins quarterbacks coach/passing game specialist Darrell Bevell, Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Seahawks quarterbacks coach Charles London and Falcons tight ends coach Kevin Koger are the other candidates Stefanski interviewed. This is a bigger deal to fans than it is to players, but choosing Rees over experienced coordinators Bevell and Kubiak almost certainly means Stefanski plans to take back play-calling duties in 2025. Stefanski called plays from 2020-2023 and the first seven games of 2024 before turning the job over to Dorsey.