INDIANAPOLIS — Jalen Milroe’s first year as the full-time starting quarterback at the University of Alabama coincided with Tommy Rees being his offensive coordinator. Could Milroe’s first year as an NFL quarterback, starter or not, reunite him with Rees?
“That would definitely be great,” Milroe said Friday at the NFL combine. “Me and Coach Rees had a great relationship while he was at Alabama. My first year starting, he was my first offense coordinator and so it would be outstanding to be able to play under him again and do a lot of special things.”
Rees was hired away from Alabama after the 2023 season to be the Browns tight ends coach last year. He has since been promoted to offensive coordinator in Cleveland, replacing the fired Ken Dorsey.
There were multiple ways statistically where Milroe’s season with Rees calling plays was better than the season where he was under a whole new coaching staff after Nick Saban’s retirement. He had a career best in completion percentage (65.8%), passing touchdowns (23), yards per attempt (10.0) and yards per completion (15.2), and career lows — for his two years as a starter — in interceptions (six) and interception rate (2.1%).
Rees was asked about Milroe during his introductory press conference in late January and side-stepped questions seeking and evaluation of the Alabama product as a quarterback.
“As a person, I have a lot of love for Jalen, a lot of respect for Jalen,” Rees said on Jan. 22. “Obviously we went through an entire season together and when you’re the play caller and the quarterback, there’s a great relationship there, but I’m really not going to expand much on anybody in the draft right now and just know that I have a lot of love for Jalen as the man he is and wish him all the best.”
For now, a Milroe-Rees reunion is only a figment of sports-talk radio and internet bloggers. The thought remains that the Browns will use the No. 2 overall pick to solve for the quarterback, taking one of either Miami’s Cam Ward or Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.
However, there’s another scenario out there which could lead the Browns to use their first-round pick on another position. That would open the door to Cleveland taking a quarterback later in the draft, such the day-two position where it seems Milroe will be available.
There already has been plenty of contact between Milroe and the Browns. His Senior Bowl team coach was Browns special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone, who had him for a week, and general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski have already met with him this week.
“I thought it was a really good meeting,” Milroe said. “Being able to meet everyone in the room, understand who’s the offensive staff, being able to talk ball, another opportunity for them to get to know me. So overall I thought it was a really good meeting and I’m looking forward to building with the Browns.”
The Browns desperately need to answer their quarterback issue, one way or the other. Berry said they would be “aggressive” in figuring it out, while Stefanski talked about “every avenue” being examined.
Milroe led the Crimson Tide to the college football playoff semifinal against Michigan as part of a 12-2 season. They came back to go 9-4 and lose to Michigan again in another bowl game in Kalen DeBoer’s first year in Tuscaloosa..
The thought of stepping into the NFL’s worst quarterback situation, however, isn’t see as daunting by Milroe.
“It’s all about opportunity,” Milroe said. “I’m not someone to try to be a savior, I’m someone that’s just trying to better a program as a whole. And so it’s all about opportunity. And I would love to seize that opportunity as well and grow as a player. The biggest thing as a player would be better than you were the day before and try to strive for greatness.
“Climbing a mountain ain’t easy, but when you get to the top of the mountain you’ll learn so many things when it comes to adversity, when it comes to hardship, things along the way. And so I had all that throughout my journey as a player and so I’m just looking to lead or looking to grow as a player and be better than I was this past season.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jalen Milroe: Reuniting with Tommy Rees with Browns would be ‘great’
