Tag: Cleveland Browns (Page 21 of 57)

      Report: Browns to keep Eric Mangini

      January 7, 2010 /

      According to ESPN.com, the Browns will retain head coach Eric Mangini and his entire coaching staff in 2010.

      Mangini went 5-11 in his first season with the Browns, who finished with a four-game winning streak.

      On Tuesday, his first day running the Browns, Holmgren said Mangini had a legitimate shot of returning for a second season in Cleveland.

      Holmgren is also interviewing general manager candidates this week. On Wednesday, Eagles GM Tom Heckert visited the Browns. Per league rules, Heckert could not be hired by Cleveland until Philadelphia completes its season.

      While it’s hard to argue with Holmgren’s decision based on how the Browns finished the season, this could potentially be a disaster in the making. The Browns looked completely befuddled under Mangini’s guidance for most of the season and three of their four wins at the end of the year came against the Chiefs, Raiders and struggling Jaguars.

      That said, the Browns did improve defensively under Mangini and the emergence of running back Jerome Harrison offers hope for the offense heading into next season. Mangini didn’t handle his quarterback situation very well earlier in the year, but Brady Quinn did show promise before injuring himself in Week 15.

      Chances are that Mangini will be on a short leash next year. Holmgren might not be expecting a playoff appearance, but if the team doesn’t show marked improvement n 2010 then Mangini could be on his way out this time next year.


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      NFL

      Did the Browns insult Josh Cribbs?

      January 7, 2010 /

      According to NFL.com, the agent for Browns’ playmaker Josh Cribbs said that his client will formally request a trade after being disappointed with the new contract offer he received from the team.

      Cribbs, who set an NFL record for career return touchdowns this season and was promised a new deal above his veteran minimum contract by previous team management, was offered a new deal with an average salary of $1.4 million per season on a six-year deal, according to Rickert, with roughly $400,000 to sign. Cribbs, who is signed through 2012, has been working with the team in an effort to get a new contract since before the season began.

      “We’re going to formally put in a request for a trade,” Rickert said. “He will not set foot in that facility again. If they had offered even something like $2.5 million per season we could have worked with them, but to me this offer is indefensible.”

      Rickert said that team executive Dawn Aponte told him the offer was final and would not change, and that new team president Mike Holmgren was in agreement with her on the offer.

      “Dawn said this was it, this was their offer,” Rickert said. “She said it would be 1.4 today, 1.4 in March and 1.4 in August.”

      In 2006, Devin Hester had a breakout rookie year as a returner. If he wasn’t bringing a kick back to the house, he was setting the Bears’ anemic offense up with great field position. Fans and the media often joked that he was their offense.

      The following year, the Bears decided that they wanted to try and make him a No. 1 receiver and just like that they limited Hester’s impact. Outside of a couple of big plays a year, he hasn’t been the same player for Chicago that he was his rookie year and the Bears have paid for it.

      The Browns should fear that they’re about to lose their Devin Hester by insulting him with a weak contract offer. Cribbs is a game-changer and before Jerome Harrison decided to run like Jim Brown for the final couple games of the season, he was also their only offensive weapon. If Cleveland losses him, then they could wind up making a massive mistake just like the Bears did by forgetting how important Hester was as a returner.

      Granted, it’s not the same situation. The Bears also had to decide whether or not Hester was worth the money and they eventually paid him. By making him a receiver, they tried to get the most out of their investment and it just hasn’t panned out.

      But the Browns already know what Cribbs can do on offense. He might not be a No. 1 or even a No. 2 receiver, but he’s dangerous out of the Wildcat and explosive in certain packages. If they can’t recognize that, let’s hope he’ll wind up with a team that will. That said, I’m sure Holmgren knows what he’s doing and he does have to worry about 2010 being an uncapped year. So maybe this is just a bump in the road and the two sides will eventually come to an agreement.

      If you’re looking for another take on this topic, check out Gerardo Orlando’s from Cleveland Scores, who writes that Cribbs and his agent need to chill out and give Holmgren some time to get his feet under him. After all, the Browns don’t even have a GM yet and Cribbs’ agent is in Holmgren’s grill looking for a new contract.


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      NFL

      Report: John Fox is interested in Browns’ job

      January 6, 2010 /

      According to Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Panthers’ head coach John Fox is reportedly “very interested” in the Browns’ job if it becomes available this offseason.

      1. Fox is “very interested” in the possibility, according to a league source.

      2. Panthers owner Jerry Richardson would be willing to arrive at a contract settlement to get out of the $6 million owed Fox for the 2010 season.

      3. Richardson, seeing a potential owners’ lockout in 2011, would not replace Fox with Bill Cowher, but might promote from within.

      4. Behind the scenes, most if not all of Mike Holmgren’s coaching and executive “ready lists” are made up of clients of agent Bob LaMonte. Fox is in that stable.

      This doesn’t make sense to me. Why would Richardson allow Fox to go if he wasn’t going to replace him with Cowher? The Panthers have been the model of inconsistency under Fox over the past couple years, but his teams always play hard and usually find a way to finish respectable. So why allow Fox to jettison if Cowher (who has been linked to Carolina before) wasn’t going to be his replacement? (Unless there’s an internal candidate that Richardson really wants to promote that I’m just not aware of.)

      The Browns have an interesting dilemma on their hands with Eric Mangini. Cleveland finished the season winning four in a row, including a 13-6 victory over the defending champion Steelers in mid December. But this was also the same team that looked completely inept for 13 weeks under Mangini, so why should Holmgren believe that Mangini has the Browns heading in the right direction? Four wins over the Steelers, Chiefs, Raiders and Jaguars is nice, but that’s the only thing they were: Four wins over the Steelers, Chiefs, Raiders and Jaguars.

      We’ll see if there’s any teeth to this Fox rumor and monitor Holmgren’s big decision regarding Mangini.


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      NFL

      Decade Debate: Saddest Franchises

      December 23, 2009 /

      The “informal” defnition of sad is “pathetically inadequate or unfashionable.” In sports, a sad franchise is one that has failed repeatedly to have any type of sustainable success. As part of our ongoing Decade Debate series, we chose the saddest franchise for the NFL, NBA and MLB, along with a DIShonorable mention. The criteria is simple: perennial failure. (Bonus points if the team has an out of control payroll and still loses.)

      NFL

      Detroit Lions
      42-116 (.269), zero playoff apperances
      Lion fans have been suffering a slow death since 2001. That was the year that William Clay Ford, Sr. made the worst hire in the history of mankind, appointing Matt Millen as the team’s GM and president. With Millen steering the ship, the franchise sank to the bottom of NFL purgatory and hasn’t been seen since. The misery started early in the decade when they became the only team in NFL history not to win on the road for three consecutive seasons (2001-2003). The streak of 24 games finally ended with a 20-16 win over the Bears in September of 2004, but by that time the Lions already had ownership of the horrendous record. Of course, the road steak would have been fine if it were the worst thing that the Lions owned this decade. But in 2008, the team did the unthinkable by becoming the first 0-16 team in NFL history. The only good thing that came out of their 0-16 losing streak was that Millen was finally fired, but the damage was already done. Over Millen’s seven seasons as the team’s GM and president, the Lions owned the NFL’s worst winning percentage at 31-81 (.277). They had just one winning season this decade (2001, one year before Millen’s tenure), have had seven different head coaches and one 0-16 season. Perhaps what’s worse than the 0-16 season, the road streak and all the head coaching changes, is that Millen left the team so devoid of talent that they once again had to rebuild from nothing this past offseason. A monkey could have crapped in his hand and threw it against a wall and picked out better prospects this past decade than Millen did. (Let’s hold a moment of silence for fans that actually bought Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers, Roy Williams, Kevin Jones and Mike Williams jerseys over the years.) Good luck pointing out a group of fans that have suffered more this decade than Lions fans. It’s shocking they’re not extinct by now. — Anthony Stalter

      DIShonorable Mention:

      Cleveland Browns
      55-103 (.348), one playoff appearance
      When it comes to the NFL, nobody touches the Lions as the saddest franchise this past decade, but the Browns come damn close. In 2000, Cleveland finished with a 3-13 record, but that’s not what infuriated fans the most. It was the fact that the Baltimore Ravens (the former Cleveland Browns) won the Super Bowl that year. Imagine rooting for a team for several years and seeing it get to the Super Bowl, yet as a completely different franchise. Talk about a kick to the marbles. Two years later in 2002, the Browns finished with a 9-7 record and made the postseason under head coach Butch Davis. But in the first round, they blew a 33-21 lead in under six minutes to lose to the Steelers, 36-33. It would be the last time the Browns would make the playoffs this decade, even though they finished with a 10-6 record in 2007 (they missed the postseason because of tie breakers). What’s worse, being a Lion fan and having zero expectations year after year, or being a Browns fan and seeing whatever little expectations you have crushed like a bug under a boot? — Anthony Stalter

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      MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL

      Mike Holmgren named Browns club president

      December 21, 2009 /

      Mike Holmgren has accepted the Browns’ offer to become the team’s new club president, according to Cleveland Plain Dealer.

      Holmgren said on his weekly radio show last Friday that if he took the job, he’d give Browns coach Eric Mangini a chance to prove himself. He said “it’s not fair” to come in and fire a coach after one season, but that he understands sometimes tough decisions aren’t fair.

      A league source said Lerner was hoping that whoever he brought in would see that Mangini’s plan was working — and there’s been evidence of that in recent weeks, including back-to-back victories over Pittsburgh and Kansas City.

      Mangini also has the support of executive advisor Jim Brown, who said he deserves to keep his job.

      Terms of Holmgren’s deal were not disclosed, but previous reports estimated it could be around $5 million a year. On Saturday, Holmgren turned down an offer for a high-level post with the Seahawks, which, according to the Seattle Times, was the president’s role.

      Holmgren now has decide whether or not to give Mangini a chance to prove himself past one season, or start fresh and hire someone new to coach his team. It’s human nature to want to start with a clean slate, so I would imagine that Holmgren will let Mangini go and hire someone who is familiar with the West Coast Offense (the offense Holmgren ran in his coaching career). But then again, who knows – maybe Holmgren sees that Mangini has the Browns moving in the right direction and values him as an asset.

      Regardless of what he decides to do with Mangini, this was absolutely the right hire by the Browns. Holmgren has already proven that he can win in this league and Cleveland needs someone that can build from the ground up. Great hire.

      NFL

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