2010 NFL Draft: Can the Cleveland Browns Draft an Offensive Coordinator?

As the Cleveland Browns move forward into 2010, a lot of questions remain on what their offense will look like.

Team President Mike Holmgren is a West Coast Offense guy, and Head Coach Eric Mangini is not. Given how pathetic the Browns offense was in 2009, there should be massive changes.

However, there haven't been massive changes. Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll has retained his job despite the epically bad offensive performance last year. Instead, it looks like Holmgren has allowed Mangini to keep his coaching staff intact—mostly.

Holmgren hired Kent Johnston as strength and conditioning coach on Jan. 27. Johnston worked with Holmgren in Green Bay and Seattle and has 25 years experience in the NFL, so don’t think for a minute that Johnston isn’t going to have more of a voice in offensive meetings than your average strength and conditioning coach.

A rumor floating quietly around is that Johnston is there to help mentor Daboll along and develop his OC skills.

I’ve talked about Daboll before at length. He’s reportedly a very smart guy, which is why Mangini likes him. Brett Favre reportedly vouched for Daboll after Holmgren accepted the job with Cleveland, but the results on the field speak for themselves.

The Browns ranked dead last in offense last year, and if you want to look at Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson’s individual QB ratings, you have a stronger stomach than I do right now.

Going into the middle of November, the Browns were on pace to set a record for lowest number of points scored in a season. Thankfully, that didn’t happen, but only the St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored fewer points last year.

Daboll’s offensive schemes often were so basic, the average football fan could call the play sitting on their couch at home. Opposing defenses certainly weren’t fooled by what they were seeing, and it was only the resurgence of the running game in the form of Jerome Harrison the final month of the season that saved Daboll from complete infamy.

Daboll reminds me of the handful of people you knew in high school who got straight A's and a 4.0 GPA. They were sharp as a tack when it came to “book learning,” but when you put them out in the real world and tried to have them practically apply their knowledge, they were lost.

Daboll may be one of the smartest guys on the Browns coaching staff, but he has not been able to translate that to any kind of success on the field.

The NFL is a results-oriented business like no other, and the retention of Daboll going into 2010 is a head-scratcher. That being said, it does bolster the theory Holmgren is allowing Mangini to succeed or fail on his own merits.

The Browns' needs in the draft are many, but the one thing they can’t address in the draft—coaching—doesn’t seam to have been upgraded at all at this point in the year.

Hope springs eternal, and all the fans can hope for is Johnston to mentor Daboll along and have him grow into his coaching role, and the Browns will have an offense that doesn’t cause fans to develop nervous ticks every time it takes the field.