It appears former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens will indeed be joining the New York Giants next season.
After long speculation, former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens is joining the New York Giants‘ coaching staff. Kitchens will be the Giants’ new tight ends coach according to Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic.
Kitchens is a long-time friend of new Giants head coach Joe Judge. While Judge was a player at Mississippi State, Kitchens was on the coaching staff as the tight ends coach.
The friendship includes an infamous story of Judge building a swing set for Kitchens’ daughters while working as a graduate assistant.
Kitchens, who played quarterback at Alabama from 1993 to 1998, has a long history of coaching tight ends. In addition to spending time as Mississippi State’s tight ends coach, Kitchens has also been the tight ends coach for the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.
Kitchens has been with the Cleveland Browns since 2018. In 2018 he served as associate head coach and running backs coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator after the firing of Todd Haley in October of 2018.
Before the 2019 season, Kitchens was promoted to head coach. His lone year in that position for the Browns was a disappointment as the team went just 6-10 despite a preseason addition of former Giant receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
The Browns fired Kitchens for the poor season and later replaced him with Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski.
With Kitchens on the staff, the Giants have now hired two assistants who were head coaches in 2020 with Jason Garrett (Dallas Cowboys) coming on board as offensive coordinator.
Kitchens replaces Lunda Wells, who left the team to take the tight ends coach role with the Cowboys. New York hopes Kitchens will help take former first-round selection Evan Engram’s game to the next level.
