{"id":124987,"date":"2025-06-12T21:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T21:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/124987\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T21:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T21:40:13","slug":"how-the-browns-plan-to-rebuild-their-run-game-and-why-the-offseason-program-offered-few-clues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/124987\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Browns plan to rebuild their run game and why the offseason program offered few clues"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEREA, Ohio \u2014 The Browns<\/a>\u2019 revamped run game comes with one big caveat after the offseason program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re out here in pajamas right now,\u201d running backs coach Duce Staley said when asked to assess the progress of rookie running back Quinshon Judkins. \u201cWhen we put on some armor, I\u2019ll let you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of all the things that are difficult to judge in the spring \u2014 and there are a lot of things difficult to judge in the spring \u2014 the run game might be the most difficult.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little to no contact and no pads. There\u2019s definitely no tackling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to evaluate without pads on,\u201d head coach Kevin Stefanski said. \u201cRunning back\u2019s a hard position to evaluate in these settings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanski, in the past, has referred to the offseason program as a passing camp.<\/p>\n

Still, the talk of this offseason has been revamping the run game, an area that abandoned the Browns last year after serving as the calling card of Stefanski\u2019s offense over his first four seasons in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it feels like a 2020, 2021 install of the outside zone with power schemes mixed in,\u201d left guard Joel Bitonio said at the team\u2019s charity golf tournament<\/a> earlier this month, \u201cwhich I think is a strength of what our O-line does.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is an offense that ranked fifth in rushing yards per play in 2020, first in 2021 and 11th in 2022. Last season was the first under Stefanski in which they ranked outside of the Top 10 in rushing attempts and just the second outside of the Top 5.<\/p>\n

They lost their way in 2024 as part of their last-ditch effort to salvage the trade they made for quarterback Deshaun Watson.<\/p>\n

Now, with Watson shelved after a ruptured Achilles and unlikely to play a game for the Browns again, rebuilding the run game has been the theme of the offseason, with Stefanski taking over play-calling and installing Tommy Rees as his new offensive coordinator. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll offseason we talked about just rebuilding the run game,\u201d Staley said. \u201cGoing back to Day One when Kevin got there, going back to when he was in Minnesota, running wide zone, that\u2019s one of our staples and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to stick to and we have the backs for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They even went out and hired an offensive line coach who came up under Bill Callahan, one of the architects of the Browns powerful run schemes until he left to go work with his son last season. The Browns brought in Mike Bloomgren to help get the team\u2019s front back in order.<\/p>\n

Bloomgren worked with Callahan with the Jets<\/a> from 2008 to 2010. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Day One of (offseason program) when we got to talk about it, when (offensive coordinator) Tommy Rees went in there and installed the offensive identity and we talked about who we\u2019re going to be and what things have to happen for us to be that team,\u201d Bloomgren said, \u201cI think you\u2019ve seen a great level of excitement and you\u2019ve also seen guys making a commitment to make those techniques work.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the personnel side, the Browns spent valuable draft capital to remake the backfield, picking Judkins No. 36 overall and Dylan Sampson at No. 126.<\/p>\n

The two have the potential to form a dynamic backfield duo, with Judkins providing a Nick Chubb-like presence as the bell cow back and Sampson as a versatile change-of-pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo different guys,\u201d Staley said. \u201cI mean, Dylan is able to go play in the slot and also he\u2019s able to go and play on third down and maybe sprinkle in a little second down. I\u2019m not saying (Judkins) can\u2019t play on third down, but I\u2019m just looking at what we can do with Dylan as far as the receiver and we\u2019ll be able to do a little something with (Judkins) at receiver too, but totally different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two have very different running styles. Judkins is powerful with some of Chubb\u2019s ability to put his foot in the ground and cut. Sampson is a chaotic runner who can accelerate through the line. He\u2019s also spending time working with wide receivers coach Chad O\u2019Shea to become a cog in a passing attack that will rely on heavier personnel like tight ends and running backs.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Sampson has been) meeting with C.O. in there and going over some of the receiver splits and routes and just being able to just take his game and expand it,\u201d Staley said. \u201cIt\u2019s been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanski has promised a more competitive and physical training camp than the past few seasons, something Staley welcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got blitz pickup every day hopefully,\u201d he said, \u201cfingers crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n

That physicality is something that could help the Browns early in the season, especially if teams aren\u2019t ready for it as they use September to really ramp up. The Browns could have an advantage with their veteran offensive line that knows this scheme well and a willingness to try to wear teams down over 60 minutes.<\/p>\n

Staley, in his second season with the Browns, is thriving as part of this new world order in Berea.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that I make sure they understand is every time they step on the grass it\u2019s on,\u201d he said, \u201cevery time you\u2019ve buckle it up, it\u2019s on. Every time you lace your shoes up, it\u2019s on no matter who it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Browns will trade in their pajamas in a few weeks and the hope is their run game will wake back up.<\/p>\n

Football Insider newsletter free trial: Take a minute and sign up for a free trial<\/a> of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com’s Browns reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEREA, Ohio \u2014 The Browns\u2019 revamped run game comes with one big caveat after the offseason program. \u201cWe\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,29284,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-124987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-cleveland-browns-veterans-minicamp-2025","12":"tag-clevelandbrowns","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}