Pat Kirwan's assertion that Jimmy Haslam had been consulting around the league was recently confirmed when Bill Parcells spoke up. No, he wasn't offered the GM gig, but yes, Haslam had asked him for advice.
Excellent guy to ask! Parcells has quit or been fired twice for refusing to share authority with a GM. (Context: Bill had won a Superbowl and really knew how to build his own teams his own way. This is not Mike Holmgren. And Pettine is a first time coach, so the structure here makes sense).
I'll give you one guess what his advice was.
"Even now? After we just hired a coach? A couple weeks before the combine?"
"Yes."
Kirwan himself is careful not to step on any toes, but a listener can tell that he's not down on the Banner/Lombardi firings. He just keeps repeating: "First time GM, first time head coach, AFC North--it's gonna be tough."
Ex-Browns player and front office Exec John Wooten knows Ray Farmer. He was involved in checking him out for the draft as a player, and stayed in touch. He's very high on him as a GM. "You'll see."
Wooten answers Ross Tucker's concern about Ross Tucker's Farmer-Pettine "arranged marriage" concerns:
"I'm a guard and they bring in a new center. I don't know this guy, but we both know we have to work together. I don't know Pettine, but I do know Ray Farmer, and from his side there won't be a problem. If niether guy has a (personal) agenda; if they want power more than they want to win, they shouldn't be here."
I think Ross also watches too many faux reality shows. All of us have worked or do work with other people. We automaticly try to get along with them, because conflict is stressful. Who wants to be distracted and tense all day (besides the hams on those shows who are trying hard to be dramatic and entertaining?)
Why wouldn't two reasonable and intelligent people get along?
I have another personal thought to toss in here about the Banner firing: HE was probably not going to offer Alex Mack top five center money. And I'll bet you Parcells had an opinion about that when he spoke to Haslam. Alex Mack IS a top five center!
Ex Bills and Colts GM Bill Polian is less diplomatic than Pat Kirwan, and likes what Haslam did. The timing could have been better, but Haslam is still learning the ropes. Bill comes out and says that Joe Banner was the reason why coaches didn't want to come here.
Polian was expressing concern over Farmer's inexperience and suggesting that he might hire his old boss from Kansas City when his co-host informed him that he had.
Polian called that a smart move, and said that this guy will handle all the nuts and bolts of setting up the draft board and organizing things so that Ray can concentrate on talent.
In re Haslam, Bill points out that Robert Kraft fired Bill Parcells and Pete Carroll before he got it right.
Respect for Ray Farmer is enthusiastic and unanimous among all these guys.
Superbowl MVP Rich Gannon keeps repeating that the Browns have too many cooks in the kitchen and need to get straightened out.
That's irrational. Haslam just fired two cooks and promoted one from within. He restructured and simplified the front office. Rich is talking about moves made to FIX a problem as more of the same.
Adam Schein, of all people, wrote an exceptionally good opinion piece on the Browns situation. This is shocking to me, because Adam usually makes a lot of generalizations and assumptions...I swear this article must have been ghost-written for him, or else he found a great brain nutrient or something.
From Mary Kay Cabot of the PD, I'm hearing that there was conflict between Lombardi and Banner as well. I don't know if this is true, but it seems to fit a pattern: Banner seems to be a control freak.
But Peter Smith (Dawg Pound Daily) wants us to be fair to Joe Banner. He made some really good moves, and Peter insists that one of these was Paul Kruger.
Everybody was fixated on the sack stats, but Peter points out that he had as many quarterback hurries as ever, and became one of the best run-stoppers in the NFL.
So Joe Banner is, I suspect, a control-freak and micromanager. I believe he had Mike Lombardi locked in a dungeon and stifled him. (Look, I know everybody hates Lombardi, but this isn't reasonable). He monkeyed around with the roster to force his Head Coach to play guys he didn't want to play.
Banner had a great reputation around the league when he came here, but there were a lot of reports about his interference with Any Reid as well.
What John Wooten said is germaine here: it can't be about ego, a personal agenda, or a lust for power. As much as the players are a team, the front office is a team. Joe Banner is a very capable, smart man--but (I suspect) not a team player.
And with Joe Banner, I was throwing in the towel on Alex Mack--and pretty irked by it. I'm pretty sure that Ray Farmer will be more flexible. Mack's agent will say that he is a Pro Bowler in his prime, ergo deserves top four center money. Banner would offer less. Farmer might pay him his market price.
Kirwan calls this the most important move the Browns can make.
NFL Radio consensus is also that TJ Ward should get the franchise tag.
So there you have it. Kirwan, Polian, and Wooten think Haslam just took off the training wheels and made a smart (if overdue) move. Our little Jimmy is growing up!
Call THEM homers.
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