Freddie Kitchens got the head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns largely because of the job he's credited with doing after Hue Jackson was let go. Once Kitchens was named the interim head coach, the team went 5-3 to finish the 2018 season. They almost went 6-2 had they been able to outlast the Baltimore Ravens in the season finale.
Now, one former assistant coach has said Kitchens wasn't right to get that kind of credit. Former offensive line coach Bob Wylie recently gave a radio interview where he ripped his former bosses quite intensely. Among the chief complaints he made was that he was absolutely shocked the Browns settled on Kitchen as the head man.
Baker Mayfield likes him
While Wylie said he was shocked at first, it appears he also has a theory why the Cleveland Browns picked Freddie Kitchens.“Baker (Mayfield) likes Freddie,’’ Wylie told CBS Sports Radio. “There’s a good relationship there ... Baker likes Freddie, so that had to (factor) into the decision."
If the idea that the only reason Kitchens got the job is because of his relationship with Mayfield is dropping a bomb on his former team, Wylie wasn't done. He added that former quarterback coach Ken Zampese is the one that should get all the credit for the way the team finished the season.
The former offensive line coach says he understood why Kitchens wasn't the main man during the turnover.
He hadn't had any coordinating experience.
It should be taken into account that Wylie clearly has a problem with Kitchens. One of the reasons he's got an axe to grind is the way he feels he was let go from the Browns. According to Wylie, he was not only let go unceremoniously but the team showed very little class when he was in the hospital.
Collateral damage
Wylie says that the way Kitchens let him go caused problems with several of the other assistants. "Thanks for helping me get the interview, okay? but I’m going to take this job and you guys are going to become collateral damage, that’s what will happen,''' Wylie claims the exit interviews were like.
It's worth noting that if Kitchens felt as though he wasn't really deserving of the job because of Zampese, he could be wanting to get rid of a kind of guilty association.
In the end, Kitchens only kept one assistant that was hired by Hue Jackson. Receivers coach Adam Henry was the only one to stick around with the team.
He made the cut because he was the receivers coach at LSU for Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr.
The final straw for Wylie is that he was told he was let go while he was rehabbing a knee injury. The former offensive line coach claims he found out he no longer had a job from his daughter. While the claims that Kitchens shouldn't have gotten credit for the Cleveland Browns turnaround is interesting, it also feels like a massive case of sour grapes over the way he was treated.