ESPN.com is reporting that Mike Holmgren has declined the Seahawks’ offer for a senior leadership position.

“I sincerely thank Paul Allen and Tod for all their support over the years,” Holmgren said in a statement. “I thank them for reaching out to me and we conclude these discussions as friends.”

Holmgren has also been interested in joining the Cleveland Browns. He spent two days meeting with Browns owner Randy Lerner earlier this week.

Holmgren said on his radio show in Seattle on Friday that he planned to give Lerner an answer “sooner than later” but added there was no definite timetable. It may have accelerated after he declined an offer to rejoin the Seahawks.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for anybody,” Holmgren said of his visit to Cleveland. “It’s about as good a job situation as you could ask for in this business.”

One would think that Holmgren either wants a bigger role, more money or more power. If that’s the case, he’s going to get those three things in Cleveland, which probably means he has made up his mind to join the Browns.

In the past couple days, it has been easy to get swept up in the Mike Holmgren-to-Cleveland rumors. But there’s one thing that has had me perplexed about the situation since the story broke: Why don’t the Seahawks want him back? After all, they do need a GM now that Tim Ruskell has decided to resign and Holmgren did lead the Seahawks to the Super Bowl a couple years back.

So why wouldn’t the Hawks be tripping over themselves to retain Holmgren as their GM? The Seattle Times may have the answer:

The Seahawks need Holmgren.

There are, however, people close to owner Paul Allen who are reluctant to bring him back. There are people — just a few people — who had skirmishes with Holmgren in his previous incarnation as president and coach.

There are people in the organization who, wrongly, believe Holmgren has campaigned for this job and are offended by that perceived behavior.

If this is the result of just a few front office people that don’t want Holmgren in Seattle, then the Seahawks are making a mistake. Not everyone in every office setting will get along all the time. And unless Holmgren was walking around punching babies, then I don’t see what he could have done that was so bad that several people don’t want him back so he can help rebuild the Seahawks’ roster.

But alas, if the Seahawks do allow him to go to Cleveland without putting up much of a fight, they might look back at this situation one day and think what a huge mistake it was.

According to NFL.com, quarterback Jason Campbell says he’ll demand a trade if the Redskins draft a quarterback at this weekend’s NFL draft.

Even though the article doesn’t specify, I’m sure Campbell means he’ll demand a trade if Washington selects a quarterback in the first round. I highly doubt Campbell would be upset if he was watching the draft this weekend and at the bottom ticker it read: Round 6, Pick 186 Washington Redskins: Graham Harrell, QB, Texas Tech.

Personally, I don’t blame Campbell for demanding a trade if the Skins take USC Mark Sanchez at No. 13 or better yet, trade up to get him. Daniel Snyder has put Campbell through the ringer this entire offseason by attempting to trade for Jay Cutler and then talking with free agent Byron Leftwich (now with the Bucs). Snyder has shown little support for Campbell over the past month and things appear to be coming to a head this week as the draft approaches.

The Washington Times speculates that if the Skins trade up to get Sanchez, they have a trade partner for Campbell in the Jets. That scenario certainly makes sense, but it would obviously be contingent on whether or not Washington could land Sanchez, which might be hard given that Seattle could be interested in him at No. 4.

Another scenario to keep an eye on is what the Browns do with Brady Quinn. If Seattle passes on Sanchez and Cleveland loves him at No. 5, the Browns could send Quinn to Washington and then the Redskins could trade Campbell to the Jets. But at this point, that’s way too much speculation and while it’s fun to talk about all of the scenarios, fans are usually left disappointed at the lack of big trades that occur on draft day.

Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plan Dealer is reporting that the Browns will pass on Michael Crabtree at No. 5.

The Browns have all but crossed off Michael Crabtree as a candidate for the No. 5 overall pick, said a source.

The Texas Tech receiver brought a diva attitude on his visit to the club facility last week and did not impress coach Eric Mangini and others, the source said. In fact, Crabtree was described by some in the building as “not nice.” After Crabtree left, Mangini secured last-minute workouts with borderline first-round receivers Hakeem Nicks of North Carolina, Kenny Britt of Rutgers and Mohamed Massaquoi of Georgia.

What’s funny is that the same paper reported just yesterday that the Browns are still in love with Crabtree, so who knows. Rumors are going to run rampant for the next couple days leading up to the draft.

The fact that the Browns are looking at Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt and Mohamed Massaquoi would lead me to believe that they’re going to wait on addressing their wide receiver need until later in the draft – even if they do wind up trading Braylon Edwards.

Cleveland will be one of the more interesting teams to follow on draft day. Their biggest needs are at linebacker (more outside than inside), cornerback and wide receiver, but what they do at No. 5 will obviously depend on what prospects come off the board in front of them. If Aaron Curry falls into their lap, it would be hard envisioning them passing on the best talent in the draft. If they have plans to trade quarterback Brady Quinn, then Mark Sanchez is a possibility at No. 5 if Seattle doesn’t take him at No. 4. And if they can get out of the No. 5 pick altogether in order to acquire more picks and get better value for their first round pick, then that remains a logical option, too.

Either way, Mangini and new GM George Kokinis are doing a fantastic job not revealing their hands.

Update: ESPN’s Michael Smith also says that the Browns won’t take a receiver at No. 5 and his information is usually pretty solid.

Have you heard the latest draft rumors on Mark Sanchez? Apparently only the Lions, Rams, Seahawks, Browns, Jaguars, 49ers, Jets, Redskins and Broncos are either in love, smitten or downright want to get in bed with the USC quarterback.

Is that all?

It seems every day rumors of a new team being interested in Sanchez emerge and while it’s easy to get caught up in all the pre-draft speculation, it would obviously be wise not to believe everything you hear. That said, with the draft quickly approaching, I’ve thoroughly convinced myself that Mark Sanchez will in fact be a Cleveland Brown.

Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire and there’s a ton of smoke coming out of Cleveland that new head coach Eric Mangini isn’t a big Brady Quinn fan. Along with daily Sanchez-is-going-here speculation, there have been just as many Quinn-will-be-traded-here rumors. Maybe Mangini and new GM George Kokinis are just throwing up smokescreens to keep other teams guessing at what their draft day plans are. Or maybe (and this seems more logical by the day) Mangini and Kokinis want to blow up the entire roster and start over and that’s why Kellen Winslow was traded to the Bucs, Braylon Edwards will soon be dealt to the Giants and Quinn will be jettisoned to parts unknown.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to a report by the National Football Post, the Browns have received offers for quarterback Brady Quinn and wideout Braylon Edwards and are likely to eventually move both players.

The Cleveland Browns have been engaging in talks to trade quarterback Brady Quinn and wide receiver Braylon Edwards, according to our own Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post.
Lombardi reports he is hearing from multiple league sources that the Browns have a first round pick on the table for Quinn, but may be looking for more. Two teams are currently interested in Quinn’s services.

In addition, Lombardi is hearing that the Browns have a first round pick on the table for wide receiver Braylon Edwards and will most likely trade him before the start of next season.

One other note: Lombardi is hearing the Browns are very interested in Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree.

What’s interesting about the speculation surrounding Cleveland trading Quinn and Edwards is that it isn’t dying down. Even though these are still only rumors, at this point you have to kind of buy into the notion that new head coach Eric Mangini and GM George Kokinis want to blow up the roster and start fresh. They want their own players and that means guys like Quinn, Edwards and Kellen Winslow (who was already dealt this offseason to the Bucs) will eventually be sold to the highest bidder. The Browns are going to be one of the most interesting teams to follow leading up to the draft.

For what it’s worth, I had the Browns taking Crabtree with their first round pick in my second mock, assuming that Edwards would be dealt on or around draft day. But they could also be looking at USC quarterback Mark Sanchez at No. 5 so he could groom under Derek Anderson for a year or two.

According to Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Tony Grossi, the Browns are “smitten” with USC quarterback Mark Sanchez.

I’ve been hearing for weeks that the new Browns’ brass is divided on Quinn, that, in fact, Quinn had more supporters in the old regime, which nailed him to the bench for two years.
I’ve been hearing that the new regime isn’t head-over-heels with Derek Anderson, either, but Anderson’s arm always will impress coaches at this time of year.

I’ve also been hearing that the new regime is smitten with Mark Sanchez of USC and it wouldn’t surprise some — though it would floor everybody in Cleveland — if the Browns took Sanchez with the fifth pick of the draft.

Quinn, of course, has not had much of an opportunity to disprove critics that question his accuracy and arm strength. He deserves that much before the Browns give up on him.

Here’s yet another report that states how the new brass in Cleveland isn’t thrilled with Quinn.

Let’s assume for a second that Grossi is right and the Browns love Sanchez and want to draft him at No. 5. Then Cleveland better trade Quinn (we have to assume that if Cleveland drafts Sanchez, then Quinn would be the one traded because why keep two young quarterbacks with limited to no experience?) before the draft or else they’ll get no value for him if they try and deal him with three quarterbacks on the roster. No team is going to give up a decent draft pick or two for Quinn knowing that the Browns have Anderson and Sanchez on the roster.

It seems like Eric Mangini and George Kokinis either have some master game plan that they’re about to reveal over the next month or they’re completely clueless. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out for the Browns around draft weekend.

Following the Jay Cutler trade to Chicago, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Browns had a deal on the table that would have sent Brady Quinn to Denver. According to the report, the Redskins would have gotten Cutler, while the Browns would have acquired Washington QB Jason Campbell.

Of course, Browns’ head coach Eric Mangini denied the report less than 24 hours later.

The report comes a little more than a week after Mangini said at the NFL owners meetings that he wouldn’t rule out a trade.

“What I haven’t ruled out is [GM] George [Kokinis] and I looking at any opportunity to improve the team,” he said. “But I in no way am saying that is specific to the quarterback situation. But we would look at any opportunity we thought would improve the team.”

He also said he told both Quinn and Derek Anderson that they’d openly compete for the job in training camp and that he was “excited” about the competition.

There’s more at stake for Quinn in the competition than just the starting job. If he plays at least 70 percent of the snaps next season, he’ll earn $11 million in contract escalators.

There have been more than a handful of rumors this offseason that involve the Browns trading Quinn. Granted, they could all be just that – rumors. But one has to wonder whether or not Mangini is high on Quinn and if he had the choice, whether or not he’d love to blow up the quarterback situation in Cleveland and start over.

But in terms of dealing with this specific rumor, the only thing that doesn’t make sense is why Mangini would want Campbell. Outside of starting experience, why would he want Campbell over Quinn? Campbell has been trying to learn the West Coast Offense for over a year, so to acquire him and try to teach him a new playbook wouldn’t be a very bright idea. If the Browns did make that trade, I think they’d be taking a step back from what they already have.