By STEVE KING

We’re taking a break — only for a day or two; that’s to be determined — from the Deshaun Watson saga, but we’ll get back to it because it’s a huge deal, one that I will not give up on lightly.

However, a little light stuff would be a nice respite, and with that, then. it was good to see what happened in Tampa the other day with two former Browns assistant coaches.

Bruce Arians surprisingly stepped away — I guess it could be called a retirement from coaching since he will turn 70 years old in six months — as head coach of the Buccaneers and, with the approval of ownership, moved up to the newly-created position of senior football consultant and promoted Todd Bowles from defensive coordinator to take his head-coaching spot. 

There are rumors that all this came about because of a supposed tiff with Arians and quarterback Tom Brady, who came out of retirement recently to return to the Bucs. Arians denies there is a problem with him and Brady, and says he was going to step away from coaching in a year anyway and making the move now, with Brady back on board, gives his longtime friend Bowles a good team with which to work.

Bowles, 58, played for Arians when he was head coach at Temple in the mid-1980s, and the two were reunited as coaches for the first time in Cleveland two decades ago under head coach Butch Davis. Arians was the offensive coordinator from 2001-03 before leaving to become wide receivers coach and eventually offensive coordinator with the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

Bowles worked as a secondary coach from 2001-04 and, after Davis resigned with five games in the 2004 season, he left the following year to be an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys. Bowles was an assistant under Arians for two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and then worked under him again in Tampa from 2019-21. In between those two stints, he was the head coach of the New York Jets.

The difference in their personalities was apparent when they worked in Cleveland. Arians was quippy and fun-loving. Bowles was quiet and reserved. The only thing they shared was a great smile.

Here’s hoping — and expecting — that Bowles, in his second try as a head coach, will be a success, just as he was with the Bucs defense, and for that matter way back when with the Browns.