Defensive coordinator Ray Horton has left the Tennessee Titans and returned to the Browns.
New Browns coach Hue Jackson hired Horton on Wednesday to command the defense after interviewing him a day earlier.
Jackson has said he wants to call the plays on offense and doesn’t plan on hiring an offensive coordinator. But on Wednesday, he added a few key offensive assistants.
Former Minnesota Vikings running backs coach Kirby Wilson will serve as a running game coordinator, and ex-Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton was added to the staff along with former Colts offensive line coach Hal Hunter and longtime offensive assistant Al Saunders. Hamilton’s title will be associate head coach/offense, ESPN reported, Hunter is the offensive line coach and Saunders will likely be called a senior offensive assistant.
A source familiar with the hires confirmed the moves for the Beacon Journal, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Browns have yet to announce them.
Horton, 55, spent the 2013 season with the Browns but departed with the vast majority of assistants in the wake of owner Jimmy Haslam and former CEO Joe Banner firing coach Rob Chudzinski, who went 4-12 during his lone year on the job. The Browns are reportedly still paying Horton from his first tour with them.
A former NFL defensive back who won a Super Bowl as a player, Horton sought refuge with the Titans and spent the past two seasons as their defensive coordinator. However, he was overshadowed last year once mentor and longtime Pittsburgh Steelers defensive wizard Dick LeBeau arrived as assistant head coach/defense.
It appears Horton asked the Titans for permission to leave after he interviewed for their head-coaching job Saturday, only to watch Mike Mularkey be hired later the same day. The Titans retained LeBeau and switched his title Wednesday to assistant head coach/defensive coordinator.
Horton has been a defensive coordinator for five seasons. Here’s a glance at how his 3-4, multifront scheme has fared:
• 2015: Titans ranked 27th in points allowed (26.4 per game), 12th total defense (342.2 yards surrendered a game), seventh passing (229.9), 18th rushing (112.3).
• 2014: Titans tied for 29th in points allowed (27.4), ranked 27th total defense (373), 15th passing (235.8), 31st rushing (137.2).
• 2013: Browns ranked 23rd in points allowed (25.4), ninth in total defense (332.4), tied for eighth passing (221.1), 18th rushing (111.3).
• 2012: Arizona Cardinals ranked 17th in points allowed (22.3), 12th in total defense (337.8), fifth passing (200.8), 28th rushing (137).
• 2011: Cardinals tied for 17th in points allowed (21.8), tied for 18th in total defense (355.1), ranked 17th passing (231), 21st rushing (124.1).
The Browns won’t undergo a radical schematic change while transitioning from the defense employed by coach Mike Pettine and coordinator Jim O’Neil the past two years to the one used by Horton. The base defense will still feature a 3-4 alignment.
As for the offense, it finished 25th in yards per game (331.9) and 30th in points per game (17.4) in 2015 under first-time NFL coordinator John DeFilippo. It ranked 21st in passing (236.4) and 22nd in rushing (95.6).
Jackson will rely on Wilson, Hamilton, Hunter and Saunders to help boost those statistics.
Wilson has coached running backs for 17 years in the NFL. He has tutored five who are among the top 25 all-time leading rushers in league history: Adrian Peterson of the Vikings and retired backs Emmitt Smith, Curtis Martin, Edgerrin James and Thomas Jones. Smith and Martin are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Wilson has worked for Minnesota (2014-15), Pittsburgh (2007-13), Arizona (2004-06), Tampa Bay (2002-03), Washington (2000) and New England (1997-99).
Wilson, 54, and Jackson, 50, attended Dorsey High School in Los Angeles.
The Colts fired Hamilton, 41, in November after a 3-5 start and replaced him with Chudzinski. Hamilton, who was Andrew Luck’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during his final season at Stanford University, helped the Colts finished 10th in offense in 2013 and third in 2014. But the Colts were shut out in the first half during three of their first eight games last year, and Hamilton lost his job as a result.
The Colts announced last week they wouldn’t retain Hunter, 56, whose late father, Hal, coached the offensive line coach of the Browns from 1989-92. Hunter has more than 30 years of coaching experience, including the past three seasons with the Colts and seven with San Diego (2006-12), the last of which he served as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator. He was also an offensive line coach for the University of Akron from 1987-90.
Saunders, 68, has been a head coach for San Diego (1986-88) and an offensive coordinator for Kansas City (2001-05), Washington (2006-07), St. Louis (2008) and Oakland (2011). Jackson was the head coach of the Raiders in 2011, and this will be the first time he and Saunders have worked together since then. At his most recent stops, Saunders has been a senior offensive assistant for Oakland (2012-14) and Miami (2015).
Extra points
• The Philadelphia Eagles will hire DeFilippo as their quarterbacks coach, Fox Sports reported. On Saturday, the Browns informed DeFilippo he wouldn’t be retained.
• Sashi Brown, the Browns’ new executive vice president of football operations, and Paul DePodesta, the franchise’s new chief strategy officer, will hold an introductory news conference at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at team headquarters.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.