While the Cleveland Browns have had a rough go of it this season, falling to 2-8 following Week 11 and seemingly on the verge of blowing up their front office and coaching staff if handed another loss in Week 12 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they have not had the most dysfunctional season in the league in 2024. Not by a long shot.
That honor currently goes to the New York Jets, who just continue to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. This week and after an embarrassing loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 11, the team announced that they had moved on from general manager Joe Douglas. Douglas, hired six years ago, has drafted fairly well for the team but had struggled to land consistently high caliber free agent talent for the Jets.
Read more: 4 bold predictions for Browns vs Steelers in Week 12
As a result of Douglas' firing, the Jets also announced that Phil Savage would serve as interim GM for the remainder of the 2024 season. Savage won't be New York's permanent solution to their now vacant GM spot, but he does come with GM experience.
That isn't good experience, though.
Ask a Browns fan about Savage and you're likely to hear about how his biggest swing with the team 17 years ago was trading picks in the 2007 draft to take quarterback Brady Quinn in addition to tackle Joe Thomas in the first round. Thomas panned out very well for the Browns, but as with so many quarterbacks in the franchises history, Quinn did not.
In addition to that fumble, Savage is most known for responding to a fan's email criticizing the team with an explicit reply. While that wasn't why Savage was fired - you can blame that on starting the 2008 season 0-8 - it's what many remember his losing tenure with the organization for, and it should give the Jets a ton of pause. There's no indication that Savage has any advantage to keep the job at GM, but it's clear he's got some baggage from his only other stint at the position.
Thomas was the only Hall of Famer drafted by Savage during his time as GM, and the Browns under Savage only had one winning season which resulted in no postseason appearance. While fans have every right to be disappointed and angered with Andrew Berry's current tenure with the team, especially given how handcuffed they now are because of his trade for Deshaun Watson, at least Cleveland has seen the postseason under his management. The team can't say the same of Savage's time in that job.