Mike Lombardi?

One adage of the political game is that if you have a choice with a story that is going to be badly regarded, you try to release it on a Friday.
The theory goes that between the end of the work week and people just wanting to relax that you can sometimes take the edge off the news by getting it out there initially when the attention is divided.

Yesterday Jimmy Haslam and his hired frontman Joe Banner did just that with the hiring of highly unpopular NFL Network analyst Mike Lombardi as the head of player personnel.

Lombardi was the one name almost universally panned by Cleveland media, bloggers, fans, sand people, you name it and sure enough, that's exactly who was hired.
Joe Banner was the patron of Lombardi and he knew that there were going to be some upset people as Banner was quoted as saying "I put myself out on a limb here" and referring to a backlash "My eyes are open"

The issues are not with the media opinions of Lombardi, although his words on using a second-round pick in the 2013 draft in the supplemental draft on Josh Gordon as "A wasted pick" are coming back to haunt Lombardi after Gordon's excellent rookie season.
The problems lie with the awful draft record that Lombardi was involved with in his previous stint with Cleveland that saw first-rounders used on failures such as Tommy Vardell, Derrick Alexander, and Craig Powell.
Under the Lombardi-led personnel department, the Browns drafted just one Pro Bowler in five drafts (the late Eric Turner) and generally struggled in the evaluation of both college and pro personnel.
That is what scares Browns fans and nothing that Jimmy Haslam or Joe Banner can say that will dull those concerns.

Haslam was quoted as having a "respected NFL leader" offer that "If you can get Mike Lombardi then you have to do so".
Considering the same things were said about Joe Banner, did Haslam ever think that getting advice from competitors to hire guys that no one else even interviews might be a bad idea?
This move is groused about by almost all, although everyone would like to see Lombardi pull off a Lazarus-like return with some good personnel decisions and this move has really put a damper on the excitement of the new regime.
Joe Banner says he has put his neck out? He has and if the young, but promising Browns take a step back-Banner might be going with his hand-picked friend.....

It's too bad that the Browns made this move because I was already to give them credit for two excellent coordinator hires for rookie head coach Rob Chudzinski.
Norv Turner on the offensive side and the hiring of Ray Horton from Arizona to run the defense are both strong hires.
Turner will do what he does best-work with quarterbacks and call plays, while Horton did an excellent job last season with the Cardinals for the most part.

The only downside to the hiring of Horton is the likely transition from the 4-3 to the 3-4.
Rob Chudzinski says he wants to use elements of both defenses and have a "hybrid", but as nice as it sounds to have the best of both, it usually works out to have the defense that the coordinator prefers becomes more and more dominant.
My concern is that once again, the Browns are so busy shoving a scheme instead of using the talent available to run the system to their strengths.
Ray Horton is a quality coordinator, but I bet they run more 3-4 than anything else, but the talent has been accumulated for a 4-3.
The linebackers are already weak and I wonder if Jabaal Sheard can stand up in the 3-4, plus considering Phil Taylor, Ahtyba Rubin, and John Hughes seem to be one too many to play the nose, although I might take a look at Rubin as a 3-4 end.

All of that and I haven't even touched goofy uniforms for 2014. UGH!

So with all the questions and less than enthused fan base, it makes sense to make these announcements on a Friday.
Here we go again...

Photo Credit:AP Photo