According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Bill Parcells may be interested in leaving the Dolphins taking a position with the Browns next season.
What sounds unthinkable is actually gaining a little credence. There is chatter initiated in NFL personnel ranks that Parcells would be agreeable to leaving the Dolphins midway through his four-year contract to take on his next rebuilding project in Cleveland.
“The one thing about Bill is he’s unpredictable,” said a league source, who would not discount the possibility.
Parcells has an escape clause in his contract to leave the Dolphins at any point and still receive the remaining money owed him. Further, the new team would not be required to compensate the Dolphins with money or draft picks.
Parcells is always looking for a new challenge, they say, and he feels the organization he has set up in Miami will carry on fine without him.
Wooing Parcells would have to wait until Miami’s season is over. There’s the very real possibility of him playing one suitor against another. He has left the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the altar on separate occasions twice each during his illustrious career.
There is also the realization that Parcells, 68, is not going to preside long over what he builds.
“You just have to find the steady hand [to oversee] after he gets bored,” a source said.
Even if Parcells came to Cleveland for two years it would still be worth it for the Browns, because he would build a coaching staff that could succeed once he bolts. The key would be to get him for those couple of years to point the ship in the right direction and get it moving forward. Then when he decides to move on to greener pastures, the organization will hopefully be filled with competent people.
As the article notes, Parcells is always intrigued by a challenge. He has a massive ego and wants to see his name mentioned in the headlines. He has to be getting a little complacent in Miami and Cleveland would be the ultimate reclamation project.
We’ll see if the Big Tuna bites if Cleveland offers.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
