Browns Links: Coaching/GM Search, Manziel, Thomas

The Browns have promoted executive vice president/general counsel Sashi Brown to executive VP of football operations, tweets ESPN’s Adam Caplan. Brown will join owner Jimmy Haslam, Dee Haslam (Jimmy’s wife), and consultant Jed Hughes in finding the club’s next head coach, per Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal (on Twitter) and Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). The coach will then help them hire a general manager (Twitter link via Ulrich). The new GM will report to Brown and the coach will report to Haslam, according to Ulrich (via Twitter). The GM’s duties will center on talent acquisition and scouting, while Brown will handle the 53-man roster and salary cap (via Ulrich on Twitter).

More on the Browns as they embark on another new era:

• Haslam acknowledged that the Browns are in for a long rebuild. Thus, they’ll add talent through the draft and, for the time being, avoid spending big on free agents (Twitter link via Ulrich).
• A report Sunday night stated Jacksonville assistant Doug Marrone would be the first to interview for the Browns’ head coaching vacancy. However, Haslam shot down the notion of Marrone being first in line, according to Cabot (Twitter link). No word yet on whether the team will speak with Marrone.
• The Browns will interview Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin for their head coaching opening in the coming days, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
• Haslam informed previous GM Ray Farmer he was firing him before the Browns’ loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday, not after, reports Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link). Further, Haslam notifed the coaches of the Farmer and Mike Pettine firings via email, tweets Rapoport.
• More Johnny Manziel drama, courtesy of Peter King of TheMMQB.com: The two-year veteran didn’t show up to concussion protocol at 9 a.m. Sunday, which is a team requirement even if the player is inactive. Moreover, Manziel was unreachable via phone when the Browns tried to contact him. King now doubts the quarterback will ever play another down for the Browns. The 2014 first-round pick would prefer to go to the Cowboys (Twitter links: 1; 2; 3).
• Perennial Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas, who has been in Cleveland since it drafted him third overall in 2007, is unsure about whether he’ll be a Brown next season. “When there’s turnover in the coaching staff, a lot of good players end up leaving, a lot of good coaches leave,” he said, according to ESPN’s Tony Grossi. “There’s a lot of uncertainty when there’s turnover in the coaching staff. Certainly I could be one of them not here next year.” On whether he even wants to stay a Brown, Thomas stated, “I’ll have to wait and see what happens with everything next week.” Thomas had previously hoped Pettine would return, per Grossi. Whether Pettine’s firing affects Thomas’ relationship with the Browns remains to be seen. For what it’s worth, Thomas has three years and $29.5MM left on his contract, which contains no dead money.