National Football League

New Browns OC not sure if starting QB is in 'the building right now'

Published Jan. 22, 2015 2:12 p.m. ET

foxsports

BEREA, Ohio -- New Browns offensive coordinator John DeFilippo was introduced by Mike Pettine Thursday and his first question was regarding the Browns quarterback situation. Last month, Pettine described it as "muddy at best."

"We're not sure if our starting quarterback is in the building right now or not," DeFilippo said. "If he is, great. If he's not, that's great, too. Whoever is in that room is going to be coached hard, held accountable and be expected to do out of Cleveland Browns quarterbacks."

DeFilippo said he hasn't spent any time watching film on last year's quarterbacks Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel or Connor Shaw but intends to soon. DeFilippo has a background in working with young quarterbacks, as well as many different styles. He was given credit for helping Derek Carr have a positive rookie season.

"I think the first thing you do is get a personal connection and see how they learn," DeFilippo said. "I spent a lot of time in learning how guys learn. Some guys are visual guys, some guys need to be coddled a little bit and some guys need to be ripped.

"I think you find that connection on how a guy learns best and you go that route. I think I've done a pretty good job with the quarterbacks that I've coached."

DeFilippo said he plans on meeting with Hoyer within the next week and watch film on all the quarterbacks.

"Brian and I are going to meet up at some point this week and have a conversation to get to know each other better," DeFilippo said. "I 'm really looking forward to that."

Pettine said that although there has been speculation that the Browns job couldn't attract veteran candidates because of the lack of continuity, Pettine said he only offered the position to one coach--that being DeFilippo.

"I'm very excited, very pleased to announce John DeFilippo as our offensive coordinator," Pettine said. "As I've said, 'Flip' has a lot to offer. He's very bright, very passionate and what I think sticks out to me the most is his ability to pull people together. He has outstanding people skills. It's hard to be in a bad mood being around him."

Pettine said although DeFilippo is viewed as an up-and-coming offensive mind, he felt he was ready for the task and offered the job to him rather than go with a more experience veteran coordinator.

"That is the safer way to go with more of a brand name," Pettine said. "I knew John was ready (to be the offensive coordinator)."

DeFilippo will call the plays for the first time in the NFL, but he said he's not worried about that aspect the least bit, citing his experience calling plays in college at San Jose State.

Pettine compared the hiring of DeFilippo to when Rex Ryan hired him as the Jets defensive coordinator when nobody knew who Pettine was.

DeFilippo is the sixth coordinator for the Browns in the past six seasons, yet Pettine doesn't see that as being that much of a struggle.

"I know we're very young," Pettine said. "The silver lining to me is they've shown a ability to learn and adapt which is a big part of football. Outside of Joe Thomas, Alex (Mack) has been here a few years, but for a lot of these guys thy were part of this offense for just a year."

DeFilippo said he plans to be very flexible in putting together an offense for the Browns, including retaining the zone-blocking scheme used by Kyle Shanahan.

"I've been in the zone-blocking scheme and it's a fabulous scheme," DeFilippo said. "My first year in Oakland, Greg Knapp was our offensive coordinator and he came from Houston. It was the exact same scheme the Browns ran last year, so I'm very familiar with the zone-blocking scheme.

"I've been involved in a lot of schemes, been around a lot of run games and been exposed to a lot and both have their merits, both have their draw backs and we're going to have a mixture of both," he said. "I can promise you that whatever the Cleveland Browns did well last year, we're going to continue to do."

He also said he's a big proponent of running the football.

"You have to run the football in this division," he said. "I'm a big believer in running the football."

DeFilippo said he will adapt the offense to what the players do best, whether that be running an offense that features a running quarterback like Manziel or one such as Hoyer.

"Working with Terrelle Pryor, exposed me to the zone-read in the quarterback run game," DeFilippo said. "I had not been exposed to that before. You can't just have a play book. You have to do what's best for the Cleveland Browns."

DeFilippo said he's not concerned not having a starting quarterback in place as he begins his tenure with the Browns.

"I've been in this situation before," DeFilippo said. "At this time last year, Derek Carr wasn't in the Oakland Raiders building. Derek had a very good rookie year and obviously, we would've liked better. Our standard is very high and it's going to continue to be very high. I've been in this situation several times before and it doesn't scare me one bit."

DeFilippo said he spent some time with Manziel in preparation for last year's draft.

"Obviously, I studied Johnny coming out of college and spent some time with Johnny," DeFilippo said. "Obviously, it wasn't a lot of time, but spent some time with Johnny. He flew out to Oakland and I spent some time with him.

"Can you get an overview on a guy in one day? No, but you can get a grasp on what he thinks and how he's feeling. I got along with Johnny when I met with him, but I haven't watched the games."

DeFilippo said he's anxious to start working with Manziel.

"I know this, whoever is in the quarterback room, is going to have a clean slate," he said. "I'm really looking forward to working with Johnny and getting him better and improving on things he needs to improve on."

DeFilippo said whomever he has to work with will be prepared to play in 2015.

"We're going to be very flexible with our (offensive) plan and will revolve around who our starting quarterback is and what his skill set is."

DeFilippo said his philosophy is to identify the playmakers on the Browns and put them in position to do what they do best.

"We're going to put our playmakers in a lot of different spots," DeFilippo said. "I'm a big believer in that. There are some good, young tight ends here, some good backs that we're looking to get matchups. Were going to try and exploit those matchups as best as we can.

"We're going to find out what ourplay makers do well and do them over and over again so they can get great at it."

DeFilippo was asked what playmakers stood out to him from afar and the first name he mentioned was Josh Gordon, who is currently under suspension by the team and at "a crossroads" in terms of his future with the Browns.

"Josh Gordon is as talented a guy as you get," DeFilippo said. "When you watch him run routes, from a physical stature, he's a fantastic athlete. Joe Thomas is a fantastic athlete and Alex Mack is an unbelievable center. Those are the guys when you look at the Browns on this roster, you say 'Wow' those guys are Pro Bowl type players."

DeFilippo said change is always difficult, but he feels he'll make the transition as smooth as possible.

"It will be different, change is tough but it's how you embrace it," he said. "We're going to make this change as clean as we can for these players. There will be as much crossover as we can make, but there will there be changes, absolutely.

"I've done my research on this team and the players on this offense are a resilient group," he said. "They're open to change and we're going to make it as smooth as we can for them."