MOBILE, Ala. -- Browns coach Mike Pettine, whose last offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan quit with two years left on his contract, stressed that he hired former Raiders quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo to run his offense in large part because of the quality person he is.

"The things John brings to the table are exactly what we were looking for. He's the total package," Pettine said in a release from the team. "He's very bright. He has great energy about him, great passion. Loves the game. Works extremely well with other people.

"You could see that when I brought him in and had a chance to meet with not just the offensive staff, but he spent time with the defensive staff. That was a big part of it, making sure we weren't bringing in just a playbook; we were bringing in a good person. That, to me, is one of the biggest reasons why he's here."

DeFilippo, a Youngstown native, interviewed for the Browns coordinator vacancy last season, but Pettine hired Shanahan instead. Shanahan resigned January 8 and is set to run the Falcons offense under Dan Quinn.

DeFilippo, 36, is the sixth Browns coordinator in six years, and has never been a coordinator in the NFL. He's held that title for one season at the college level, in 2011 at San Jose State.

Pettine said the Browns' muddy quarterbacks picture was addressed early on with all of the candidates, and that DeFilippo considers himself a "make-it-work" coach. He's coached classic dropback passers and running quarterbacks alike, and plans to be flexible. DeFilippo will be tasked with trying to mold Johnny Manziel into a quality NFL starter. If that doesn't work out, the Browns are committed to finding a quarterback who can take them to the next level.

It remains to be seen if they'll re-sign Brian Hoyer, whose contract will expire in March.

"I'm thrilled to be working with all the quarterbacks that are here and going to be here," DeFilippo said in the release. "We're going to treat everyone and coach everyone just as hard and just the same.

"The offensive line is really, really impressive just from a physical standpoint. The thing you notice about the Cleveland Browns offensive line is how athletic they are. The way they can change the line of scrimmage, they have a great mixture of strength and athleticism, which is hard to find on the offensive line. Young backs are really good and explosive and their receivers are good. I'm looking forward to just working with them and getting to know them better. "

DeFilippo, who's traditionally run a West Coast-style offense, stressed that the scheme will be a collaborative effort.

"This isn't going to be my offense or 'so and so's' offense,'' he said. "This is going to be the Cleveland Browns' offense. Whatever that is to get our best players the football, it's going to be very flexible.

"We're not going to just scrap something just because I'm here. I don't have that type of ego. If something's good that our players do well and they know, we're going to keep doing it. That's going to be my job here the next few weeks is I'm going to really study our last 16 games of this season and see what we're good at, see where it fits and see where it meshes with myself and coach Pettine seeing this offense."

DeFilippo addressed the revolving door at the coordinator position, saying he hopes this is "the last change for these guys for a long time. One of the things Mike and I talked about in our interview was if there's something these guys are familiar with in terms of a name, I don't need to change the name just because I see it as, for example, the play's called 'smash' and they call it 'hammer.' I can learn," DeFilippo said. "Let one guy learn the new tag for it.

"We're going to make this offense, the transition as simple as we can for our players. I think they'll really like playing in this offense."

Another thing that made DeFilippo attractive to Pettine was familiarity. The two worked together in 2009 under Rex Ryan with the New York Jets, with DeFilippo as assistant quarterbacks coach and Pettine as defensive coordinator. With DeFilippo's help, rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez led the Jets to the AFC Championship Game that season.

The two coaches, who are also both are represented by agent Trace Armstrong, have developed a strong bond over the past five years, according to the release. That's important to Pettine, who was taken aback by Shanahan's sudden departure.

"Defensively, we worked late and worked some real late hours (in New York)," Pettine said. "A lot of times we'd look over on the offensive side and in the little area where the coaches were, his light would be the only one on. We spent a lot of late nights in New York talking football. That's when I knew this guy had something to him."

DeFilippo is credited with helping Raiders rookie quarterback Derek Carr develop throughout the 2013 season. The No. 36 overall pick finished 30th in the NFL with a 76.7 rating, but threw 21 TD passes against only 12 interceptions. He started all 16 games, throwing for 3,270 yards. DeFilippo has also coached young Raiders quarterbacks such as Terrelle Pryor, Matt McGloin and former No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell.

In 2013, Pryor and McGloin combined to throw for 3,345 yards and Pryor added 576 rushing yards, the most by a quarterback in Raiders' history. McGloin also had more passes of 25 or more yards from Week 11 to Week 15 than any quarterback in the NFL.

"I think he has an excellent way with those guys," Pettine said. "He can be tough on them and at the same time, not have them tune him out. I think he holds those guys accountable. I think they feel his energy and they feel his passion and it's contagious. It's when you're around John you can't help but feel that."

In DeFilippo's lone season as a playcaller at San Jose State in 2011, the offense finished the season 23rd in passing (276.8 yards per game) and jumped 32 spots in total offense. His quarterback, Matt Faulkner, completed 274-of-422 passes for 3,149 yards and 13 touchdowns.

"I couldn't be happier to work with Coach Pettine and to work with such a great organization like the Cleveland Browns," DeFilippo said. "It's an honor that the Haslam family and Ray Farmer and Coach Pettine have given me this job. I'm very humbled. I can't wait to get to work."

DeFilippo starred at quarterback at James Madison and is the son of Gene DeFilippo, a former college coach and longtime athletic director at Boston College. DeFillipo has served as a coaching intern with the Carolina Panthers (1997) and Indianapolis Colts (1998). He's also been a quality-control assistant with the New York Giants (2005-06) and coached at Fordham and Columbia.