The Cleveland Browns decision to move on from Ken Dorsey makes a few important elements clear. It’s less about what Dorsey wasn’t able to do and what head coach Kevin Stefanski and the Browns want to do, going forward.

The infusion of Dorsey as well as some of the other assistants they hired this offseason produced a mix marriage of sorts. The Browns were trying to meld several different philosophies together. This is something that came up from players like Joel Bitonio and Jack Conklin spoke to the media. It produced some confusion, which led to some terrible results on the field. They also lobbied pretty hard for a return to the wide zone scheme the offense had employed in previous seasons, which might be a strong hint about Bitonio’s intentions for next season.

If the concoction of coaching philosophies was going to come together, it was going to take more time. However, the decision to pull the plug on Dorsey makes it clear Stefanski wasn’t happy with the direction it was going. It’s clear players agree.

What is yet unclear is whether Stefanski wants to go back to his roots fully, largely employing Kubiak coaching schematics that he’s learned over the years in his time with Minnesota. Or perhaps that he might like other philosophies, but this wasn’t the right mix.

Even if Stefanski decides he wants to go back to the Kubiak tree, hopefully he does pluck some of the stuff from Dorsey’s offense that he liked. For example, one of the big elements that was mentioned heading into the season was “choice routes”. It’d be interesting to hear from Stefanski or perhaps Chad O’Shea if they liked some element of that. They might not want to give receivers complete autonomy, but they might want to allow someone like Jerry Jeudy more freedom.