Cleveland Browns: The front office failure ends now

The Cleveland Browns were destined for failure in recent seasons due to their incomprehensibly dysfunctional front office.

We’re talking about a front office that’s run by team owner Jimmy Haslam, who has repeatedly hit the reset button without allotting a reasonable amount of time to let anyone succeed. This time though, Haslam finally thinks he has the right people in place.

The perfect piece to the puzzle.

After hiring first-time head coach Mike Pettine, a guy who wasn’t even on the team’s radar when the coaching search began, the Browns went on to hire first-time general manager, Ray Farmer, to run the team’s roster.

These were the two main men that were expected to turn around the long-lasting misfortune and misery of the Cleveland Browns, despite their lack of experience.

The new regime started hot out of the gate with a record of 7-4 to begin the 2014 NFL season, with Brian Hoyer leading the team. Then, in usual Cleveland fashion, the hopes of making the playoffs quickly diminished as the Browns would finish losing the last five games of the regular season.

More from Dawg Pound Daily

Nevertheless, the team’s rookie quarterback, former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, and Hoyer, a Cleveland native, constantly were the topic of the team’s discussions which lead to their hostile competition to win the starting job.

Although, it isn’t necessarily the players fault for the way the 2014 NFL season wrapped up.

Pettine and Farmer joined the list of guys that included Pat Shurmur, Tom Heckert, Rob Chudzinski, Mike Lombardi, and Joe Banner for a few reasons.

Head coach Mike Pettine’s job was to win the Cleveland Browns football games and, for two seasons, felt someone other than Manziel gave the team the best chance to win those games.

Pettine didn’t feel comfortable putting in Manziel with limited options to throw to, which also was a disconnect between the coach and general manager throughout their time working in Cleveland.

That conversation can be debated for years to come, but that’s not why we’re here.

We’re here because the Cleveland Browns new regime, lead by Sashi Brown, Paul DePodesta and Hue Jackson, have what the last crew didn’t.

An organized, structured and collaborated plan.

The team will not be hiring a general manager, but there is no doubt that whoever joins the front office will be on board with this newly assembled front office.

There won’t be any more signings for washed up players who are past their primes for $9 million only to not play.

There won’t be a quarterback competition between a seasoned veteran proven to be remotely reliable and a kid who is drunk half of the week, in or out of the season.

There won’t be anymore press conferences with the general manager sweating profusely at the idea he might be the worst general manager in the sad history of the Cleveland Browns since their return to the city in 1999.

That will no longer happen.

Sashi Brown, Paul DePodesta and Hue Jackson won’t make these players withstand the dramatic, behind-the-scenes soap opera the last regime made popular.

Browns wide receiver Brian Hartline previously played in Miami, Florida for the Dolphins.

Obviously, Miami is a highly coveted destination for employment, at least for most sane people, and those who live in the bitter winters similar to Cleveland. However, Hartline said Cleveland is actually more desirable than many think, and a large portion of that is credited to the Browns.

He spoke about the state-of-the-art training facilities the Browns have for the players and also included how well they treat the families of the players, ensuring their happiness comes first. Lastly, Hartline added that it naturally doesn’t make sense for this franchise to produce continuous losing, embarrassing seasons.

Browns linebacker Karlos Dansby voiced his displeasure with Cleveland’s disconnect in the front office.

“There was something about the situation that wasn’t right. And it was in the atmosphere. It was suffocating,” said Dansby. “You kept fighting and fighting and fighting, but you know it’s there. You’d try to fight out of it, but it kept grabbing you and somehow pulling down into that boat.”

Although a total reset wasn’t what most within the organization wanted, it simply was a necessary move the team had to make in order to succeed.

The friction in the front office has created an environment in which the players can’t soley focus on football.

Whether it was the disagreement in philosophy over the wide receiver position, who played quarterback or who was, or wasn’t, involved with free agent’s, the damage was done.

Jimmy Haslam poured gasoline all over and gave Ray Farmer a lighter on one side while giving Mike Pettine a cigar on the other.

He called the firefighters in Sashi Brown, Paul DePodesta and Hue Jackson and now it’s up to them to put it out and rebuild what was lost for this Cleveland Browns.

Home/Browns News