'Little bit of a transition': Browns guard Wyatt Teller talks about change in line coaches

BEREA — The videos and pictures have flooded in to Browns right guard Wyatt Teller from across the NFL. Each one of them carries with it one common denominator — Teller's former offensive line coach, Bill Callahan.

Callahan left in February to join the Tennessee Titans coaching staff being formed by his son, Brian, their new head coach. He may have departed Northeast Ohio, but his memories continue to flood into Teller's mentions and messages.

"I’ve had a lot of my friends send me Tennessee Titans videos of the heavy bag and all the toys we used to play with," Teller said after Wednesday's OTA. "Before those guys, before it was viral, we were doing that and you guys all saw it. It wasn’t fun but it was good work, and I know that he’s going to get those guys working down there in Tennessee."

To replace Callahan, who coached Teller and Browns offensive linemen since 2020, coach Kevin Stefanski pulled from the same coaching tree. Andy Dickerson, Callahan's replacement, spent the 2011 season working with his predecessor with the New York Jets.

Teller said that, although things haven't been completely the same, there's been some carryover from the previous coach to the current one. There are also, however, plenty of differences.

"I would say Bill was pretty hands on," Teller said. "He’d get in your face if you messed up. But very much so it’s just a very different energy. … But coach Andy, he’s awesome. He’s getting after us, making sure we’re running, making sure we’re going to the right places and everything like that.

"That doesn’t change from coach to coach. But, yeah, it’s a little bit of a transition. It’s different, but at the end of the day, he learned under Bill. So a lot of his techniques, a lot of his jargon is Bill’s stuff.”

Teller was one of three regular projected offensive line starters who were working on the field during Wednesday's 90-minute practice. That also included center Ethan Pocic and right tackle Dawand Jones, who showed no signs of the knee injury that ended his season last December.

Left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. was on the field to watch a portion of the practice before going back into the team facility for more rehab work on the knee he injured last November. Two other regular starters — left guard Joel Bitonio and Jack Conklin, who started at right tackle in Week 1 last year before sustaining a season-ending knee injury — were in the facility but not on the practice field.

James Hudson III took Wills' spot at left tackle, while Michael Dunn worked at left guard. Both have started multiple games for the Browns over the last few years.

"Here, we’re working, sweating," Teller said. "It’s a good day but it was a lot of work. Techniques and stuff like that are slightly different, but at the end of the day, for lack of a better term, there’s [only] so many ways you can skin a cat. It’s the same stuff, X’s and O’s are X’s and O’s. Techniques are going to change slightly.”

Dickerson comes to the Browns after spending the last four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. The first of those were as the line coach, but the last three were as run game coordinator.

As the Browns transition into their own new offensive scheme with new coordinator Ken Dorsey, part of the learning has come through watching past plays to get a visual aid. Teller said he can tell there's going to be a Seahawks flavor to what the Browns do, at least in the run game.

"Yeah, I mean, we've watched Seattle films, so I'm guessing the plays are going to be similar," Teller said. "No, it's one of those things that as you are watching plays and stuff like that, you're seeing that he has this film, what he wrote down, and he knows what's on the play list.

"So ... we're going to watch those plays, the same plays we had plays like that, just instead of going through a million clips and being like, all right, these three, Hey, I already know the clips from the game. So those come up."

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: Browns guard Wyatt Teller adjusting to life without Bill Callahan