Dorsey
CLEVELAND — Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Ken Dorsey is coming back home as offensive coordinator to replace Alex Van Pelt.
The Browns interviewed Dorsey last week, and he was hired Sunday evening after one of the Browns’ top choices, Kellen Moore, was snatched up by the Eagles on Saturday night.
The Bucs were interested in interviewing Dorsey, but the Browns prevented that from happening. It has yet to be determined if Dorsey will call plays like he did in Buffalo the past two seasons. He’s not expected to have the added title of quarterbacks coach.
The Browns quarterback from 2006-08, Dorsey, 42, was fired in November by Bills head coach Sean McDermott with Buffalo falling to 5-5 following a turnover-marred 24-22 loss to the Broncos, and their playoff hopes slipping away. Quarterback Josh Allen led the NFL with 11 interceptions at the time.
Second-year quarterbacks coach Joe Brady took over and helped guide the Bills to a 6-1 mark down the stretch. That included five straight victories to end the season despite the league’s toughest remaining strength of schedule. The Bills, who finished 11-6 and won the AFC East, beat the Steelers in the wild card round, and will host the Chiefs in the divisional round today.
The last straw for Dorsey was that loss to the Broncos, their fourth loss in six games. Allen committed three of the Bills’ four turnovers in that game, and Buffalo was held to under 26 points for the sixth straight game.
It was Dorsey’s second season as coordinator after Allen favored him to succeed his four-year coordinator Brian Daboll when he left to take the Giants head coaching job.
Dorsey was the second known candidate to interview for Van Pelt’s old job. The first was Seahawks offensive line coach Andy Dickerson, a former Browns assistant under Eric Mangini. They also interviewed Texans quarterback Jerrod Johnson, Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and Moore.
Dorsey, a seventh-round pick out of Miami in 2003, was hired by the Bills as quarterbacks coach by Daboll in 2019. They made the playoffs together over the next three seasons, losing to the Texans in the wild card round in 2019, losing a last-second heartbreaker to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game in 2020, and losing to the Chiefs in the Divisional round in 2021.
When Dorsey was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2022, he helped lead the Bills to a second-place finish in points and yards en route to a 13-3 record. They lost in the divisional round that year to the Bengals, 27-10, but Allen had one of his best career statistical seasons, finishing 7th with 4,283 yards, tying for second with 35 TD passes, and finishing 8th with a 96.6 rating.
Like Watson, Allen is a dual-threat quarterback who makes many of his best plays with his legs, including a 52-yard bulldozing run for a touchdown during the wild card victory over the Steelers.
