New special teams coordinator Byron Storer inherits both promise and clean-up duty after a weird Browns special teams season.
Bubba Ventrone had a good run, lasting three years as the Browns ’ Special Teams Coordinator despite a less-than-impressive product on the field. I wish some of my ex-bosses had that sort of patience with things.
After three years of mediocrity and sub-mediocrity, Ventrone was excused from his position as the Browns replaced much of their coaching staff in 2026, including the head coach. As a reward for his achievements, Bubba Ventrone is now the special teams coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, a team with legitimate Super Bowl hopes.
I think this is called “failing upward”, and it seems to be the province completely of middle-aged guys with legitimate experience who are good at convincing decision-makers that it wasn’t their fault. Ventrone came to Cleveland with a track record of success and legitimate aspirations to be considered for head coaching jobs as his stature grew. I guess the “Cleveland” part of that sentence provides the backdrop for why Ventrone’s lack of recent success has been excused.
The special teams unit in 2025 struggled with blocked punts, poor return coverage, and kick returns for touchdowns that directly cost the low-scoring Browns multiple games. In a scenario like the Browns’ 2025 season, where the defense holds opponents down, but the offense can’t score points, special teams can make the difference.
Now, to turn things around, here comes Byron Storer, a one-time fullback who had a cup of coffee with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2007 before promptly tearing his ACL and turning to coaching and, for a few years, helping to run his family’s bus company. Over the last seven years, Storer has been a special teams assistant for the Raiders and Packers, and interviewed well enough to get the Browns coordinator job.
Storer is considered a protege of the Packers ' well-regarded special teams coach Rich Basaccia, who he says “taught me how to be a leader”. In the past, Storer has said that his priorities are fundamentals and technique, starting with the punt phase. To me, this is appropriate. I have an affection for punters who, like me, have a basic approach to work of kicking something far into the void and letting others deal with the consequences.
Storer has been preparing for this for most of the last decade and a half. But there’s a difference between being the right-hand man and being the guy with the headset, the plan, the blame, and the microphone shoved in your face when your punt team turns into performance art.
To understand if Storer can be successful while continuing to work with personnel provided to him by roster manager Andrew Berry, it’s probably good first to understand why the highly-regarded Ventrone was unsuccessful. Here is the weird part: depending on what metric you like, the Browns weren’t some across-the-board special teams dumpster fire last season. PFF had Cleveland ranked second in special teams grade in 2025.
And yet — and this is the part your eyeballs remember — the Browns gave up two punt-return touchdowns and one kick-return touchdown, according to The News-Herald. They also had two Corey Bojorquez punts blocked. Special teams mistakes are different from offensive mistakes. A bad third-down throw makes you groan.
A missed tackle on a punt return makes you immediately inventory your life choices. There is no slow burn. It’s just a guy in the wrong lane, a crease, and suddenly you’re watching six points sprint away. The difference between special teams success and failure lies in those big plays.
Coverage spacing. Lane discipline. Operation time. Protection rules.
Who can tackle in space? Who can block without grabbing a jersey like it owes him money? So Storer’s job is not necessarily to reinvent everything. It is to sharpen the details that separate “solid unit” from “why is there a kickoff returner doing the airplane celebration in our end zone?
”One thing that might help Storer deliver some big plays rather than suffering from them in 2026 is the added depth in the receiver room. Storer reacted with enthusiasm about the prospect of using Denzel Boston in the return game when Pete SmithFor years, kick returners in Cleveland have been like the Spinal Tap drummer, spontaneously combusting prior to the season, year after year.
Boston and Concepcion are bothThe reinvigoration of the offensive line with new blood in 2026 also provides some hope that the Browns can avoid the two punt blocks they suffered last year. The Browns don’t need special teams to be a weekly headline. In fact, the dream is that special teams are boring. Kick it through the uprights.
Punt it high. Cover with violence and good angles. Return it without becoming a meme. Don’t hand the opponent free points.
Don’t take a field-position game and turn it into a forklift accident. Cleveland Browns News and Rumors May 29, 2026: Nobody Is Ahead, Which Is Somehow Progresshas become an unlikely wildlife refug e. The Chatterley Whitfield mine last produced coal in 1976, but photographer Andrew Mason — whose father worked there in the 1960s — returned and found barn owls, short-eared owls, wildflowers, and other wildlife taking over the old industrial site.
“The colliery is a living example of rewilding,” Mason said. “You can literally see nature taking it back from the industrialized world. ” I don’t know if there’s a football metaphor in there or if I’m just legally required to find one, but there’s something nice about old, battered places finding a second life. Cleveland understands that sort of thing.
When not trying to make punt coverage sound like a Netflix documentary, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on TwitterBarge found floating in Lake Erie, owner comes forwardCleveland Cavaliers hold end of season news conferenceCleveland Browns News and Rumors May 28, 2026: Camp Scares and Unrealized Potential
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