Browns reportedly hiring second college coach

UConn offensive coordinator Nick Charlton is reportedly joining HC Kevin Stefanski’s staff as an offensive assitant/run game specialist.

The Cleveland Browns coaching staff is reportedly growing once again with a report that the club is hiring Nick Charlton as an offensive assistant/run game specialist.

Charlton is coming to Cleveland after spending two seasons as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at the University of Connecticut as a member of head coach Jim Mora’s staff.

The plan to hire Charlton was first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

In his first season with the Huskies, Charlton oversaw an offense that averaged 191 rushing yards per game, ranking 33rd in the nation, and helping the team earn a bowl game. All told in his two years at UConn, Charlton’s offense averaged 302.9 yards of offense and 19.38 points per game.

The 35-year-old Charlton also has head coaching experience as he led the University of Maine from 2019 to 2021.

Bringing a different background to the coaching role, along with being closer in age to the players, helped Charlton relate to his players in college, as Kayon Whitaker, a defensive lineman on Charlton’s first team at Maine, told the Portland Press Herald in 2019:

“To be honest, his age kind of helps. He can relate to the players a little more, he’s a little more accommodating to our culture. We kind of have a big brother/little brother relationship with the head coach.

“He talks to us about music, video games, new rappers. Rappers you wouldn’t even think he knew about? He has a list of their songs. Sometimes you don’t even feel like you’re talking to the head coach and that just makes you want to play for him even more.”

Whether that translates to the pro game remains to be seen, but Charlton is still in a position where he is closer in age to the players, which could help as he works to build relationships with the offense.

Charlton is the latest college coach to join head coach Kevin Stefanski’s offensive staff as the club previously hired University of Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees as tight ends coach and pass game specialist. Stefanski has also added offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, running backs coach Duce Staley, and offensive line coach Andy Dickerson to his staff as the Browns continue to build an offense to maximize quarterback Deshaun Watson’s skill set.

In Cleveland, Charlton will help oversee a run game that averaged 118.6 yards per game despite playing all but six quarters of football without running back Nick Chubb.