CLEVELAND — The Browns have hired former Panthers running backs coach Duce Staley for that job here, a league source told cleveland.com.
He also interviewed with the Jets, who planned to make him an offer.
Staley, 48, replaced Stump Mitchell, who was fired last week, the same day the Browns parted ways with offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt and tight ends coach T.C. McCartney.
After Staley spent last Wednesday interviewing with the Browns at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, the Browns plan to make him an offer, a league source told cleveland.com.
In Cleveland, Staley takes over a running game that finished 12th in the NFL in 2023 despite losing four-time Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb to a season-ending knee injury. In Chubb’s absence, the Browns ran the ball by committee, with Jerome Ford finishing first with 813 yards, a 4.0 average and 4 touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt finishing second with 411 yards, a 3.0 average and a team-high 9 rushing TDs. Pierre Strong Jr. finished third on the team with 291 yards, a 4.6-yard average and a TD.
But the running game struggled in the Browns 45-14 loss to the Texans in the wildcard round, totaling 56 yards on 20 carries for a 2.8-yard average against the league’s No. 6 run defense.
A third-round pick of the Eagles out of South Carolina in 1997, Staley has a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers as a player in 2005 and with the Eagles as running backs coach in 2017. Staley spent five of his 10 seasons in Philadelphia (2011-20) with Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, including on that Super Bowl-winning team, when they defeated the Patriots 41-33 after the 2017 season.
He also served as Lions assistant head coach and running backs coach in 2021 and 2022, and Panthers assistant head coach and running backs coach in 2023. The Panthers were 1-10 when Staley, head coach Frank Reich and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown were fired in November. Their offense finished last in the NFL and the run game ranked 20th.
With Chubb coming off multiple knee surgeries, the Browns could be looking for help in the room and definitely seeking fresh ideas at the position after five seasons with Mitchell.
