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Browns reportedly hire former Redskins GM Scot McCloughan as a consultant

By Thomas Moore

PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 11: A Cleveland Browns helmet rests on the field prior to the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on September 11, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Eagles defeated the Browns 29-10. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 11: A Cleveland Browns helmet rests on the field prior to the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on September 11, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Eagles defeated the Browns 29-10. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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The Cleveland Browns have reportedly hired former Washington Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan as a consultant.

The Cleveland Browns may not be participants in Super Bowl 52, but that does not mean the team is not still hard at work.

The Browns reportedly hired Scot McCloughan on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, to serve as a personnel consultant as the club prepares for the 2018 NFL Draft. McCloughan was the general manager of the Washington Redskins before being fired in March of 2017, a move that led McCloughan to file a grievance against the Redskins that has still gone unresolved.

According to a story in The Washington Post, the Redskins fired McCloughan because of his repeated problems with alcohol, something that has plagued him over the years and led to him being let go by the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks over the years.

During his two seasons in Washington, the team went 17-14-1 and won the NFC East division in 2015. His drafting was just average – at the time of his firing only four of his 17 draft selections were projected as starters – and weak in free agency.

The move is the latest by Browns general manager John Dorsey to surround himself with familiar faces in the front office as Dorsey and McCloughan worked together with the Green Bay Packers. Dorsey previously brought in Alonzo Highsmith and Eliot Wolf from the Packers.

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On the football side of the ledger, McCloughan embraces a philosophy of building through the draft, rather than squandering money on high-priced free agents, which can only be seen as a plus for a Browns team that has 12 selections in the 2018 NFL Draft and more than $100 million in cap space that they may be tempted to blow in free agency.

Another point in McCloughan’s favor is that he convinced the Redskins to move on from quarterback Robert Griffin III; of course, that didn’t work out so well for the Browns in the end as the team wasted a year with Griffin at quarterback after he made “the earth move” for head coach Hue Jackson during a workout.

Adding another layer of intrigue to the hiring is that McCloughan talked Washington into benching Griffin so the team could start Kirk Cousins at quarterback, a player that may be hitting free agency in March in search of the largest contract in NFL history. (Hopefully Dorsey pays attention to that part about building through the draft rather than free agency.)

While McCloughan may have preferred Cousins over Griffin, he didn’t like Cousins enough to offer him a longterm contract, which led to Cousins playing the past two years under one-year franchise tag deals.

If McCloughan did not think Cousins was worth a major payday in Washington, it is hard to see him advising Dorsey to hand out a big paycheck to Cousins in Cleveland.

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McCloughan clearly has had his issues over the years and his reputation as a talent evaluator may not match the results, at least not from his time in Washington.

But the Browns are only bringing him in as a consultant, and the more experienced voices in the room – especially if they are ones that Dorsey trusts – should only be a good thing for the Browns.

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