Kitchens to call plays for Browns

CLEVELAND

New Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said Monday he will continue to call plays despite hiring former Tampa Bay coordinator Todd Monken to oversee his offense next season.

Kitchens also hired Steve Wilks to run his defense.

Although he had little experience as a play-caller, Kitchens proved to be adept at reading defenses and designing plays during eight games as the team’s interim coordinator in 2018.

Monken spent the past three years with Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers ranked first in passing yardage per game (320.3) and were 12th in points. Monken called plays, but Kitchens is expected to keep that duty following his eight-game run as Cleveland’s offensive coordinator.

Wilks was recently fired after going 3-13 in one season as Arizona’s coach. He has a deep defensive background, spending 12 years as a secondary coach before becoming Carolina’s coordinator in 2017.

He succeeds Gregg Williams, who was not retained by Kitchens.

Mike Priefer will coach Cleveland’s special teams after eight years with Minnesota.

Also, Kitchens added Stump Mitchell (running backs), James Campen (offensive line), Ryan Lindley (quarterbacks), Jody Wright (special assistant) and Jim Dray and Tyler Tettleton (offensive quality control) to his staff.