Stump Mitchell Sends Farewell Message To Browns Fans
There’s one less legendary beard in Cleveland these days.
Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the Cleveland Browns were parting ways with running backs coach Stump Mitchell.
Mitchell shared a farewell message with Browns fans on social media on Thursday, which was shared by Cleveland Sports Talk on Twitter.
Mitchell joined the Browns in 2019 during the Freddie Kitchens era and served as the team’s running backs coach until now.
Some fans are surprised Mitchell is out in Cleveland.
The Browns possess an impressive rushing attack, finishing in the top half of the league in yards-per-game this season.
However, much of their success running the ball in recent years comes from Nick Chubb.
Their struggles to run the rock after he went down this season may have contributed to Mitchell’s release.
Others seem to think the Browns are just looking for another fresh offensive voice.
That’s a fair assumption given how quickly things move and change in the NFL.
Teams don’t want to become too stale and predictable with what they are doing.
That isn’t to say Mitchell is a bad coach.
Rather, Kevin Stefanski and friends may just want an outside hire to bring in new perspectives.
Former running back Duce Staley is already a name to watch as Mitchell’s potential replacement.
Staley spent last season as the running backs coach for the Carolina Panthers.
Mitchell’s classy message on social media is a heartfelt “goodbye” to Browns fans.
It seems he genuinely enjoyed his time in Cleveland and some of the different relationships he built.
The Cleveland Browns made a huge gamble when they traded for Deshaun Watson.
They knew it was going to be a controversial move and that they would face serious backlash.
They also knew they would have to give up a plethora of assets to get the deal done, yet they never hesitated to do whatever it took to get him there.
Now, reporter Hayden Grove argues that all the moves they’ve made to fire OC Alex Van Pelt and some of his assistants are all because of Watson.
He argues that the franchise knows that they need to double and triple down on their potential franchise quarterback because they need to get as much as they possibly can in return for him after everything they had to give up to get him.
As of now, the Watson trade has been a blatant failure for the organization, as he’s barely been able to play and has been far from impressive.
We all saw what Watson was capable of when he made it to the league and was thriving with the Houston Texans, so there’s reason to be hopeful.
Then again, it’s hard to be at your best when you’re not getting real-life reps and have been away from the game for so long, and chances are he might never get back to his former level.