Holmgren officially to the Browns

[Smooth32]

From Wiretap:
Holmgren Agrees To Deal With Browns
21st December, 2009 - 6:36 pm
NFL.com - The Browns announced Monday that Mike Holmgren has agreed to become team president.

“We are pleased to announce that Mike Holmgren has agreed to join the Cleveland Browns,” team owner Randy Lerner said in a statement. “We will spend the rest of the week finalizing the details of the agreement and will make a formal announcement next week, at which time we will make him available to the media.”

The Browns also said that Mike Keenan will transition to the role of chief financial officer.

http://football.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... th_browns/

Thoughts?

[HMFFL]

I heard possibly 10 years, 50 million, but we'll see what the official numbers are.

[ReasonablySober]

Great move by Cleveland.

[snazel]

As a Browns fan and Clevelander...I love it...It will be interesting to see if Holmgren sticks with Mangini to see if his system in place will work, or if he will start implementing his own system. I'm kind of torn, as I don’t know what will happen. I would think you give a head coach more than one season to implement his program and prove himself. However, what do you then do about personnel? Holmgren has experience in a different 4-3 style defense and a WCO style offense. Both of which are not currently present. Do you hold off on hiring a GM until you see what Mangini can do with his offense and his 3-4? Do you let Mangini run the show for another year and let Mangini pick his guys this coming draft? Or does he get rid of Mangini and hire his own GM and HC of choice to implement Holmgren’s system.

I can’t help but think that Holmgren wants to run his own system and just start over from the ground up. I Not like it would be a complete rebuild…we’re essentially as low as we can go right now. I also can't imagine him being in such a high position of the organization only to watch and twiddle his fingers as Mangini continues to run his own show. Early reports were indicating that Holmgren would scrap Mangini. But now after the hire, guys like Mort are saying Holmgren may decide to keep Mangini to let him prove if his system can work. Thoughts? Opinions? Iceness, what are you hearing?

[Icness]

Great article on Cleveland.com about Holmgren's rather spotty record of evaluating talent. I give him some benefit of the doubt because he was also coaching and there is some background situations that forced his hand in a few spots.

My educated guess as to what this means for Cleveland:
--Brady Quinn will be the QB in 2010
--the 3-4 defense will morph into more of a hybrid 3-4/4-3, and there will be great emphasis on adding a playmaking safety
--all traces of the Belichick family tree will be eliminated. That includes most of the imported Jets and 3-4 defensive specialists
--adding a slot receiver is now a major priority
--expect a lot of OL shuffling. Joe Thomas, Alex Mack, and Pork Chop Womack will be back, everyone else is up in the air

[Nolan]

Great move by the Browns.

[snazel]

Great article on Cleveland.com about Holmgren's rather spotty record of evaluating talent. I give him some benefit of the doubt because he was also coaching and there is some background situations that forced his hand in a few spots.

My educated guess as to what this means for Cleveland:
--Brady Quinn will be the QB in 2010
--the 3-4 defense will morph into more of a hybrid 3-4/4-3, and there will be great emphasis on adding a playmaking safety
--all traces of the Belichick family tree will be eliminated. That includes most of the imported Jets and 3-4 defensive specialists
--adding a slot receiver is now a major priority
--expect a lot of OL shuffling. Joe Thomas, Alex Mack, and Pork Chop Womack will be back, everyone else is up in the air

But the real question is: Does Holmgren keep Mangini as HC? I think he lets him go. I can't imagine Mike Holmgren overseeing, hiring, and running Eric Mangini's system instead of his own. I've got to think Lerner gave Holmgren the OK to make any changes as necessary, and I've got to believe Holmgren thinks his system should be implemented in Cleveland. I don't feel very confident in the hire if Holmgren decides that Mangini and his system are 'OK'. What benefit is Holmgren to the Browns future if he can't oversee/teach/correct/hire/tweak his own system from such a top-level organizational position?

[Swammy]

I hate Mangini, but there isn't 1 coach that would win more than 5 games with that awful team. He did a good job imo.

[Smooth32]

You mentioned in your "Scoop de Jour" that we need to look on the defensive side of the coaching tree of Holmgren.

I did some digging and the three guys that have some connections are Leslie Frazier, Ron Rivera and Sean McDermott.

All 3 trace back to the Eagles and have coached under Andy Reid. Frazier also shares Bob LaMonte as his agent which seems to make him the front runner.

Would you say it's safe to say those were guys mentioned with the odds-on favorite being Frazier?

A response would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Icness]

You mentioned in your "Scoop de Jour" that we need to look on the defensive side of the coaching tree of Holmgren.

I did some digging and the three guys that have some connections are Leslie Frazier, Ron Rivera and Sean McDermott.

All 3 trace back to the Eagles and have coached under Andy Reid. Frazier also shares Bob LaMonte as his agent which seems to make him the front runner.

Would you say it's safe to say those were guys mentioned with the odds-on favorite being Frazier?

A response would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Leslie Frazier will certainly get an interview and should be considered the odds-on favorite if Holmgren does indeed go defense. It's going to be him or Morninwheg, I would bet good money on that. Ron Rivera will likely get an interview too, but I've heard him mentioned with Oakland more than with Cleveland. He might (might!) have a handshake deal to take over SD when Norv is done, though that is just me reading between some lines.

I've heard that Jim Zorn is already scheduled to meet with Holmgren, no real surprise there. All the talk is that he becomes Brady Quinn's personal development coach the way he was with Hasselbeck in Seattle.

Tangentally related personal story: Last year during Senior Bowl week I wandered into a Starbucks and found Brad Childress and Leslie Frazier talking about offensive philosophies and how to find a staff that fits your goals. They also were talking about Phil Loadholt, with Childress asking Frazier how he would attack him and if he felt like it would be easy. I knew from that moment they were going to take him, and one of their scouts quickly confirmed to me he was rated higher on their draft board than Jason Smith. The things you can learn for a $4 cup of coffee and being a good eavesdropper (I did say hello to Childress, whom I sat behind on the flight down)...

[Smooth32]

In semi-related news: Browns to interview Tom Heckert tommorow.

If the Browns can come away with a Heckert-Holmgren combo, then I'll be pretty stoked.