3 big questions facing new Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey

BEREA — Ken Dorsey as the new Browns offensive coordinator is done. That box is now checked.

There remains a few moving pieces that always exists in the days after such a hire is finalized. None of those things, however, will lead to some kind of dissolution.

Dorsey will eventually get settled into his new office inside the Browns facility in Berea. At that point, the new offensive coordinator will get to work on solving some of the major questions he was hired to help answer.

The biggest question centered on the play-calling duties. Head coach Kevin Stefanski has handled those over the first four years he's been the head coach.

A source indicated that hadn't been decided when Dorsey was hired. That those duties haven't been hashed out — if they really haven't been — means they're not the central piece to what brought Dorsey back to Cleveland, where his final three years as a quarterback were spent.

Whether or not Dorsey, who has called offensive plays for 27 games in an NFL coaching career that goes back to 2013, gets those duties, these three questions are the ones the Browns have to get solved for their offense to take the next step.

Of course, it starts with the QB.

How will Ken Dorsey effectively utilize Deshaun Watson in the offense?

It's the only question that really matters, because it's a big reason why a change was made at the coordinator position. Much like what the Baltimore Ravens did last offseason in firing their offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, and bringing in Todd Monken to maximize QB Lamar Jackson, it's hard not to look at what the Browns did by letting go of Alex Van Pelt in exchange for Dorsey as a similar move to get the most out of the scheme around QB Deshaun Watson.

Watson certainly had moments in the Stefanski/Van Pelt offense: Week 3 against Tennessee, Week 9 against Arizona, the second half of Week 10 at Baltimore. However, his first 12 starts for the Browns have been choppy and inconsistent at best.

Dorsey comes to the Browns having worked, primarily, with two starting quarterbacks in his coaching career, but two who he could comp Watson with in some regards. He worked with Cam Newton while as the Carolina Panthers quarterbacks coach, and he's worked with Josh Allen while as the Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.

Both of those quarterbacks are little bit larger than the 6-foot-2, 229-pound Watson, with Newton at 6-5 and 245 pounds, while Allen stands 6-5 and 237 pounds. Both are also significantly more involved in the run game than Watson, who's career high in season rushing attempts is 99 compared to both Newton and Allen averaging well over 100 attempts a season for their careers.

Where those past experiences for Dorsey may help Watson is in how he's utilized, specifically in putting him in the shotgun more in order to elevate his comfort level. Per nfeloapp.com, while it only looked at first down formations, the Browns used shotgun 37% of the time, compared to 55% by the Bills.

Dorsey, by placing Watson in the gun more often than he was previously in Cleveland, could create a level of comfort for the quarterback that he never really found in his first 12 starts. It may also open up lanes where Watson could utilize his legs more, especially when you assess that in context of the Browns running game.

Will Ken Dorsey stick will one run concept, or will someone else take control there?

One of the biggest criticisms of Dorsey during his time as the Buffalo offensive coordinator in 2022 and the first 10 games of this past season involved the run game. It wasn't necessarily their production in the run game, but the concepts they used.

The Bills ranked seventh in rushing yards his first season, and were ranked 13th in that category at the time he was fired after Week 10. However, there were times where the run game disappeared, and times where they would seemingly bounce from one run concept to the next from one game to the next.

The Browns, under Stefanski, have ridden zone, such as stretch zone and wide zone, and counter to great success. Of course, having a healthy Nick Chubb at running back has aided that as well.

Chubb's status for the upcoming season is unknown other than he's expected to return at some point from the knee surgeries he needed after his Week 2 injury. Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr., along with free agent-to-be Kareem Hunt, tried to pick up the slack for Chubb this past season.

Whether or not Chubb's actually part of that run game isn't as relevant to this specific question as what will Dorsey ask his running backs to do. The guess here is that part of the acclamation process for the new offensive coordinator will involve meshing his schematic ideas to more align with what the Browns already do in the run game.

The reality of that is that it could help Dorsey out. If the complaint was about inconsistencies in run concepts, there's worse ways to change that than to adapt what has worked for one of the league's most effective run offenses.

Can Ken Dorsey help continue the David Njoku renaissance?

The Browns waited a long time to see what they've seen over the last two seasons from tight end David Njoku. This past season especially, in Njoku's seventh season in the league, he seemed to get unlocked in posting career-best numbers across the board.

The question is, with Watson expected to be back healthy and in a different scheme of sorts, what does that mean for Njoku? The tight end averaged just 5.2 targets over the five full games Watson played in 2023, although he did draw nine targets in the quarterback's final game in Baltimore.

The other 13 games, including the playoff game, Njoku was targeted 8.1 times a game. Was that quarterback-driven, scheme-driven or just coincidence?

That's what will be fascinating to see this season. Dorsey has shown he's not afraid to incorporate tight ends into the scheme.

The Bills' tight ends were significant features in the offense each of the last two seasons. Dawson Knox was targeted a combined 115 times the last two seasons, although it dropped from 77 to 38 this past season due to the addition of first-round draft pick Dalton Kincaid.

Kincaid was second on the team in targets for Buffalo this season with 101. He's a lot like Njoku, at least in stature: 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, compared to 6-4, 247 pounds for the Browns tight end.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey facing these 3 big questions