I just cannot believe that the Browns are dumping John Dorsey, who I believe was far from perfect in all of his decisions- most notably his decision to select Freddie Kitchens as the head coach after the 2018 season and another call that some are better with than I in drafting Baker Mayfield first overall in the 2018 draft.
However, Dorsey's decisions have been better than his predecessors under the reign of terror led by the pair of Jimmy and Dee Haslam, and then even the most devout admirer of analytics would have to admit the roster that Dorsey will be leaving to his successor is far superior to that left to him by the Sashi Brown/Paul DePodesta/Andrew Berry regime.
Dorsey apparently has lost a power struggle for the ear of Jimmy Haslam to Paul DePodesta and if Dorsey is not going to be the person making the decision on the next coach, I can somewhat understand the choice to let Dorsey walk away.
The general manager and coach are going to need to work hand and glove with each other and if Dorsey isn't on board with a hire, the parting of the ways is for the best.
Here's the problem.
The Haslams are rumored to want Andrew Berry to return from the Eagles as the GM and who knows what coach the DePodesta/Berry partnership would want.
Canton native and New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is reported to be the latest shiny toy for the Haslams, but it didn't seem that McDaniels and Dorsey would be a fit and McDaniels would likely want someone from the Bill Belichick tree to work with him on personnel.
Currently, there are two dueling schools of thought being reported from two veterans of Cleveland media.
The Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot is reporting that the Browns are all in on landing McDaniels and whomever he wants in personnel, while Tony Grossi is stating that McDaniels is unlikely to take the job because he doesn't want to work with DePodesta, who doesn't live in Cleveland and works out of his California home base.
Who knows who to believe at this particular point?
Another rumor has the Browns retaining Eliot Wolf and promoting Wolf to GM and hiring former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy as pairing the former Green Bay duo.
McCarthy would have the cache' of being a former Super Bowl-winning coach and claims he has revitalized himself in his one year away from the game by embracing several segments that he ignored in the past.
McCarthy's brand of West Coast offense seemed to be getting stale in his latter years with the Pack, so if he is the choice the Browns have to hope those new innovations are involved with McCarthy as there is no Aaron Rodgers in Cleveland waiting for him.
The Browns are going to also have to find a coach that is going to be a believer in Baker Mayfield as any new coach will likely have Mayfield for the next season or two to help him regain his rookie form.
Mayfield spent much of this season behaving immaturely both on and off the field, watched his performance slump badly and was constantly having his ego massaged by both John Dorsey and Freddie Kitchens, so whoever takes the job will have no choice other than working with Mayfield to teach him to be a professional in all aspects of the game and perhaps ride him as he has never been ridden before.
If a coach doesn't believe in Mayfield and he has been a polarizing figure since the evaluations for the draft, that coach may not want to take this job.
John Dorsey wasn't perfect and the 2018 draft looks a lot worse now than it did a year ago.
First rounders Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward each were disappointments,
second-rounder Austin Corbett and fifth-rounder Genard Avery were both traded in the middle of the season, third-rounder Chad Thomas has only been average as a rotational lineman and fourth-rounder Antonio Callaway was released after several issues.
Only the selection of Nick Chubb in the second round with a pick that was essentially bought by Sashi Brown for absorbing the one year of Brock Osweiler's contract stands out as a great 2018 Dorsey pick at this time.
Dorsey traded first and third-rounders in the 2019 draft to land Odell Beckham, who was disappointing, but still played through injury and below-average quarterback play to reach 1,000 yards, but second-rounder Greedy Williams showed promise through an erratic rookie season and fifth-rounder Mack Wilson might be on his way to being a star, so that's not bad for not having two of your first three picks.
Dorsey also has added picks for the next two drafts with extra picks in the third, sixth and seventh rounds in 2020 and traded for picks in the fourth, fifth, and seventh rounds in the 2021 draft as well.
John Dorsey made his mistakes and some were large ones but deserved more time.
For now, I think that this is a poor move, but if the Browns can hire a quality coach and if it would turn out to be that the new coach and Dorsey wasn't a good fit, I'd be willing to change my mind.
The possible Lazarus-like rise of DePodesta after his involvement with the Sashi Brown/Andrew Berry 2016 and 2017 drafts that have added one impact player in Myles Garrett, two starters on defense in Joe Schobert and Larry Ogunjobi, disappointing tight end David Njoku (after trading into the first round to draft him) and Rashard Higgins, who apparently did something really bad to Freddie Kitchens, who refused to play him, out of 24 players picked, concerns me.
The lack of draft production, the release of Joe Haden, who was overpaid, but on a team with loads of cap space, and decisions such as trading a pick that could have been DeShaun Watson and in a draft that saw them draft Myles Garrett first ( I was and still am on board there) with Watson and Patrick Mahomes in it, saw their preferred choice as Mitch Trubisky, all adds up to me wanting nothing to do with these guys, let alone hitch the wagon to them again.
And the final problem of all- Jimmy and Dee Haslam.
I'm sure you have noticed that the Browns have never landed even a hot coordinator type since the Tennessee twosome have owned the Browns and Cleveland usually settles for the second and third-tier candidates mainly because the top available coaches have options and when you have options, why would you pick working for the Haslams?
The Browns didn't have to outbid anyone for Rob Chudzinski, Mike Pettine, or Freddie Kitchens because no one else was interested in them.
There were a few interested in Hue Jackson, but the main opposition for Jackson was his employer at the time in Cincinnati, who wanted to keep Jackson as the coach in waiting.
If you had choices, why would you work for the Haslams?
Jimmy Haslam agrees with everyone that he speaks with, backs the last person that he talks to before he is forced to make a decision, has zero patience, and changes his mind at the drop of a hat.
As for Dee Haslam, she thought the current uniforms (that will hopefully return to the classic look after serving the minimum amount of time, for 2020) were a great idea and looked sharp. so unless you can tell me something else that she has contributed, that's about all that I have.
Why on Earth would anyone want to work with this bunch?
Jimmy Haslam owned a small part of the Steelers, the most patient organization in the game, and you would have thought that he would have learned something and instead, the Cleveland Browns are the Bizzaro World Steelers opposite in every way- especially in the win column.
The Haslams have run through six coaches, including inherited Pat Shurmur and 2018 interim coach Gregg Williams and six front office heads- inherited Tom Heckert, Joe Banner/Mike Lombardi, Ray Farmer, Sashi Brown, and now John Dorsey.
The one qualified person that they have hired has been shown the door after only two seasons, why would anyone want to work for these people?
Until either someone qualified is willing to take their money and is then fortunate enough to turn things around fast enough to keep Pilot Jimmy and Flying Dee's fingers off the red button, we may never know just what it will take to make these people winners.
I'll wrap up with one thought- Ron Rivera would rather work for Daniel Snyder than work for the Haslams.
Think about that.
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