BEREA — New Browns offensive line coach Andy Dickerson was asked Thursday about the pedestal upon which his predecessor, Bill Callahan, has been placed by many.

Dickerson craned his neck and raised a hand up above his head.

“Way up there," Dickerson said at the end of the Browns' three-day minicamp. "He's way up there.”

Don't take that as disrespecting Callahan, long considered one of the NFL's best offensive line coaches. Especially not from Dickerson, who spent the 2011 season as a coaches' assistant under Callahan while he was the New York Jets' offensive line coach.

Take what Dickerson said as more a sign of the respect he holds the man who held the job for the previous four years. That is, until Callahan elected to join the Tennessee Titans staff when his son Brian was hired to be their head coach.

Also, take it as confidence from someone who has carved out his own coaching career in the decade-plus that has passed since Dickerson learned under Callahan. He'll point to his own feet when you start asking him about big shoes to fill.

"Yeah, I'm a big flip-flop guy to start, so I don't really want to get into Bill's shoes," Dickerson said. "That's a whole other world. … Bill's one of the best in the game, and the good thing is I was brought here to be Andy Dickerson, not to be Bill. And again, like I said, I'm a flip-flop guy and not a shoe guy, so there's no point even trying to slide into those things."

What Dickerson has slid into is a offensive line group that has been together for some time, even if not everyone has been available to play through all of that time. The group of left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr., left guard Joel Bitonio, center Ethan Pocic, right guard Wyatt Teller and right tackle Jack Conklin have played at least some portion of the last two seasons, while Dawand Jones was Conklin's injury replacement last season right up until his own season-ending injury.

Wills, Bitonio, Teller and Conklin have actually played together, for at least portions of, the previous four seasons. Bitonio and Teller, arguably the league's top guard tandem, have been together since 2019.

"I think giving them ownership and listening to their thoughts and ideas, I like to work with the players," Dickerson said. "We work together, so I'm just learning from those guys, and you can learn something from all those guys because they're doing it week in and week out. And so it's actually a blessing to learn from those guys.

"I have been a part of younger rooms, older rooms, so it's the diversity within the rooms. So just trying to learn as much as you can from everybody and, again, put the best product together possible.”

Dickerson, who spent the 2009-10 season in Cleveland as an assistant, has seen his share of quality line groups over his career. His longest stint with a team has been a run from 2012-2020 with the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams, where he worked as the assistant offensive line coach under another Callahan disciple, Aaron Kromer, who was Sean McVay's offensive line coach.

The last three seasons have been spent in Seattle. He was the offensive run game coordinator in 2021, before spending the last two seasons as their offensive line coach.

"Andy's very smart," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. "He knows that he needs to be the best version of himself. I think when you get in trouble in any line of work, in this case in coaching, when you try to be something you're not. So, he's going to be himself. He's going to do it how he knows how to do it with a ton of help."

Dickerson's job in Seattle became tenuous when Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was surprisingly fired after last season. However, the Browns initially reached out to him as an offensive coordinator candidate, which led to a portion of the interview being conducted by Callahan and Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.

Eventually, that offensive coordinator's position went to Ken Dorsey. However, around the same time Dorsey was hired, Callahan departed.

And through the door walked Dickerson.

"You never know what's going to (happen)," Dickerson said. "Again, this was my first, probably in a while, offseason where it was, like, I didn't know what building I was going to be in. It was scary, for sure. … So I was very appreciative of them reaching out and just to get the experience. Then again, knowing that, OK, you get the rumors going around, maybe if Brian does go to Tennessee and all these things. But, again, the whole time you got to plan for yourself and plan for your family and figure out what the best thing for you is.

"So I know I was happy when they called and offered the job and, like you said, with a room like this, with the culture that they've built here and the winning that they've been doing, I'm just trying to jump on and help them as much as I can."

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: With Browns, Andy Dickerson looking to be himself, not Bill Callahan