Cleveland Browns (2008 Season)

[jlb1705]

Not a bad option for depth.

I'd suddenly be kinda excited about the CBs if they added Jenkins and Bodden to Wright & McDonald.

[LitlBuck]

Cleveland.com

While Kokinis has his skeptics, former Browns GM Accorsi is a big booster
by Tony Grossi/Plain Dealer Reporter
Wednesday January 07, 2009, 7:01 PM

CLEVELAND --- If the Browns indeed pair up new coach Eric Mangini with GM candidate George Kokinis, they will be seeking to duplicate the success enjoyed by the Atlanta Falcons this year.

Atlanta turned around its fortunes in one year with a young, rookie general manager at the helm. Thomas Dimitroff, 43, was an out-of-left field candidate to reshape the Falcons and now he is taking bows for transforming them from 4-12 to 11-5 in one year.

Kokinis, 41, the Baltimore Ravens pro personnel director, is the hand-picked choice of Mangini to be the next Browns general manager.

The Browns have interviewed Patriots vice president of personnel Scott Pioli and have received permission to interview Eagles General Manager Tom Heckert. But many consider a Mangini-Kokinis pairing to be a fait accompli because of the strong relationship they've had over the years.

They were among the hungry and driven entry-level staffers who worked essentially as gofers for Bill Belichick in his five seasons as Browns coach in the early 1990s.

Pioli was part of the group. So was Mike Tannenbaum, who eventually became Jets GM. So was Phil Savage, the recently fired Browns GM.
When Belichick was fired by Art Modell after the 1995 season, most of his staff moved to Baltimore. Kokinis is the only one from that pack still with the Ravens.

Continued

I am fine with the hiring of Mangini even if he does favor running a 3-4 but I am not so sure if I am in favor of bringing in his friend who has only had to make decisions regarding players already in the NFL. He has no experience whatsoever when it comes to college talent.

I also do not like it when friends work together. That usually never works out but I guess we shall see.

Posted by jlb1705

Not a bad option for depth.

I'd suddenly be kinda excited about the CBs if they added Jenkins and Bodden to Wright & McDonald

.
While I would love to have Jenkins as a DB, I think we have almost greater needs when it comes to our LB's. I don't think that we have one LB who is NFL caliber. We certainly do not have any run stuffing or pass rushing LB's so I guess somehow we would have to get LB's and DB's next year.

[Piney]

Originally Posted by Best Buckeye

I wonder how long it wil take the curse of Cleveland to kick in?
Good luck to Eric.

Originally Posted by NFBuck

Kick in? It's perpetual...

You know what will happen. We won't be able to get the Ravens guy for whatever reason. So we will be stuck with a coach and no GM. And any other GM doesn't want to come to Cleveland cuz they can't pick their own coach.

This is my ONLY problem with this. BUILD FROM THE TOP DOWN, not from the Bottom up. If we got a VP and GM and then they hired Mangini I would be in heaven. Cuz really... Mangini is perfect. He is a no nonsense type of guy and it seems like all of the Jets (except for Farve) liked him even though he is known to be a little tough.

[Piney]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

While I would love to have Jenkins as a DB, I think we have almost greater needs when it comes to our LB's. I don't think that we have one LB who is NFL caliber. We certainly do not have any run stuffing or pass rushing LB's so I guess somehow we would have to get LB's and DB's next year.

Excactly... the reason our 3-4 doesn't work is because all of our LBs don't even belong in the NFL. They are just pathetic. You can't run a 3-4 without LBs.

[ysubuck]

There is much work to be done, but there is also a lot on that team that must be exciting for a coach being brought in to "re-build." What I mean is, there really is a lot to build on in Cleveland, despite my constantly negative attitude toward the Browns.

An anchor at LT in Joe Thomas. Barring injury he'll be an All Pro for 10 years.

A young QB who should excel in Mangini's system.

A pair of young corners who are good and only going to get better.

An anchor in the middle of the D line in Shaun Rogers.

A defense that was at the top of the league in creating turnovers.

A great young TE in K2.

I say trade Braylon Edwards for draft picks as he has burned his bridges in Cleveland.

There is a lot to work with here. No?

[tsteele316]

Originally Posted by ysubuck

There is much work to be done, but there is also a lot on that team that must be exciting for a coach being brought in to "re-build." What I mean is, there really is a lot to build on in Cleveland, despite my constantly negative attitude toward the Browns.

An anchor at LT in Joe Thomas. Barring injury he'll be an All Pro for 10 years.

A young QB who should excel in Mangini's system.

A pair of young corners who are good and only going to get better.

An anchor in the middle of the D line in Shaun Rogers.

A defense that was at the top of the league in creating turnovers.

A great young TE in K2.

I say trade Braylon Edwards for draft picks as he has burned his bridges in Cleveland.

There is a lot to work with here. No?

i say trade winslow and hold edwards for one more year. winslow is the prime example of diminishing returns. he still has value now. when he's on the DL for 5 weeks next season and struggles when he does play, it will be abundantly clear that cleveland should have gotten something for him when they had the chance.

as for edwards, he's in a contract year. he'll produce because his wallet depends on it. milk him for all he's worth this season, slap a franchise tag on him, then sell him to the highest bidder. cleveland wouldn't get squat for him this offseason.

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by ysubuck

There is much work to be done, but there is also a lot on that team that must be exciting for a coach being brought in to "re-build." What I mean is, there really is a lot to build on in Cleveland, despite my constantly negative attitude toward the Browns.

There is a lot to work with here. No?

I wish I had your optimism and God knows how much I love the Browns.

We have a finesse OL which is probably meant more for pass protection than a running game so the Browns need to decide if they are great to be a finesse team or a power team. They need to establish an identity on the offensive side of the ball.

By the time Joe Thomas is really in his prime, the rest of the o-line will be old and need replaced. We can't keep on getting free agents to patch up our OL. We need to start drafting guys to replace guys as they get older. We don't have many draft picks.

As mentioned above, we need LB's in the worst way. We have no run stuffing ILB or any pass rushing OLB except for the guys with the toothpicks for arms and they don't seem to know their way to the QB.
We have two young CB's but are they really good enough. I am not sold on them yet and we might need a safety if Jones decides to go elsewhere because his contract is up.

We have lots of needs and not that much salary cap room compared to some other teams. We are about in the middle of the pact when it comes to salary cap. Also as I mentioned, we really need to start drafting some young guys in order to take over for the older guys or we will be in the same situation in 3-4 years.

I don't mean to sound so pessimistic but I see plenty of holes they really need to be filled and I just don't know how many years that filling is going to take.

[Piney]

Originally Posted by ysubuck

I say trade Braylon Edwards for draft picks as he has burned his bridges in Cleveland.

There is a lot to work with here. No?

Yes tons of work... but no matter how much I can't stand Braylon, he isn't going to give us much in return (maybe a 4th-6th rounder). But here is the kicker, if we trade Braylon... do we have ANY WRs on this team?

Or are you praying Crabtree is there at #5 and take him?

So I can see Braylon staying another year.

[LitlBuck]

Cleveland.com

Report says Heckert withdraws as GM candidate with Cleveland Browns
by Mary Kay Cabot
Thursday January 08, 2009, 1:06 PM

BEREA -- Eagles general manager Tom Heckert has pulled out of his interview with the Browns, FoxSports Jay Glazer reported today.

Heckert was scheduled to interview with Browns owner Randy Lerner on Friday, but decided not to, apparently because the Browns are leaning toward Ravens pro personnel director George Kokinis, who is new coach Eric Mangini's first choice for a GM.

Heckert agreed to interview with the Browns before Mangini was hired, and wanted input on hiring the head coach. Heckert worked in Philadelphia with Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who interviewed with the Browns last week, and would have preferred him as head coach. Heckert has no connection with Mangini.

The Browns are scheduled to interview Kokinis on Sunday, a day after the Ravens face Tennessee in the divisional round of the playoffs.

that guy from Baltimore better come or Lerner might become the new GM

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by tsteele316

i say trade winslow and hold edwards for one more year. winslow is the prime example of diminishing returns. he still has value now..

I don't think we will trade Winslow because we do not have any tight ends. We are unsure about Heiden because of his injury and Rucker didn't see any playing time and is probably too small to play TE for the Browns. Maybe if we can get a first-round draft choice and draft the TE from Missouri that would be nice along with Piney's drafting of Crabtree

[Piney]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

Cleveland.com


that guy from Baltimore better come or Lerner might become the new GM

If I'm that guy from Baltimore I ask for $10 million a year cuz he has Lerner bent over a barrell

[ysubuck]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

I don't think we will trade Winslow because we do not have any tight ends. We are unsure about Heiden because of his injury and Rucker didn't see any playing time and is probably too small to play TE for the Browns. Maybe if we can get a first-round draft choice and draft the TE from Missouri that would be nice along with Piney's drafting of Crabtree

One of the knocks on Savage as he was headed out the door were league sources killing him for trading up to get Rucker and Beau Bell. Those sources were on record as saying NEITHER of those picks will ever play in the NFL.

O line is where the offense begins and ends so if we are drafting for the future then I love the T from Ole Miss Michael Oher. Would love also to see Malcom Jenkins drafted, but I'm not sure that corner is a first round need. Also do need ILB like nobody else, but is there one out there worthy of a #5 pick?

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by ysubuck

One of the knocks on Savage as he was headed out the door were league sources killing him for trading up to get Rucker and Beau Bell. Those sources were on record as saying NEITHER of those picks will ever play in the NFL.

O line is where the offense begins and ends so if we are drafting for the future then I love the T from Ole Miss Michael Oher. Would love also to see Malcom Jenkins drafted, but I'm not sure that corner is a first round need. Also do need ILB like nobody else, but is there one out there worthy of a #5 pick?

Makes you wonder who was really the brains in Baltimore when Savage was there. I read last week in the PD that Romeo told Savage about Bell and Rucker, in addition to Wembley, that they would not fit his system. In addition to the two positions that you mentioned, we also need a OLB or two that can rush the passer in addition to being able to stop the run. Maybe the kid from Wake Forest will be around. I think he is worthy of a very high selection.

[tsteele316]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

Makes you wonder who was really the brains in Baltimore when Savage was there. I read last week in the PD that Romeo told Savage about Bell and Rucker, in addition to Wembley, that they would not fit his system. In addition to the two positions that you mentioned, we also need a OLB or two that can rush the passer in addition to being able to stop the run. Maybe the kid from Wake Forest will be around. I think he is worthy of a very high selection.

utter nonsense.

it was the talk of the '06 draft that savage told crennel that they had wimbley and ngata equally rated and asked him if he wanted a DL or OLB and Crennel told him OLB. So, there is no way that Crennel told Savage that Wimbley wouldn't fit his system.

As for Rucker, he's listed at 260 on the roster, that's plenty big enough to play TE. As for Crennel telling Savage about Bell and Rucker, the PD also ran a piece right after Savage was canned that said he picked Rucker and Bell without ever telling the coaching staff they were targets to get their feedback, and this was highlighted as one of the disconnects between the GM and coaching staff.

So, either the PD is making [censored] up, you misread, or the PD is contradicting itself and its "sources".

[JCOSU86]

Originally Posted by NJ-Buckeye

Why am I not thrilled about a coach and staff that didn't make the playoffs in forever?

Like, two years ago?

Mangini spent the last three seasons (2006-08) as the head coach of the New York Jets. In his first season, he led the club to a 10-6 record and a postseason berth into the AFC Wild Card game.