Per Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com, former Redskins GM Scot McCloughan — widely regarded as one of the league’s top talent evaluators — has joined the Browns as a personnel consultant to assist the team in this year’s draft (although Mike Jones of USA Today tweets that McCloughan is still running his private pre-draft scouting service and is not exclusively assisting any one team). McCloughan and new Browns GM John Dorsey are close, and both men worked together in Green Bay under then-Packers GM Ron Wolf. Washington fired McCloughan in March 2017, and McCloughan subsequently filed a grievance against the Redskins, the outcome of which is still pending.
Cleveland has 12 picks in the 2018 draft, including Nos. 1 and 4 overall, so McCloughan’s talents will certainly be put to good use (assuming he has, in fact, joined the Browns’ staff). McCloughan has previously said Oklahoma signal-caller Baker Mayfield is his favorite QB in this year’s class, though team sources indicate that there is no clear favorite if Cleveland decides to use the top pick on a quarterback.
McCloughan participated in meetings with the Browns’ full scouting department yesterday, so it certainly sounds as if he is working for Cleveland alone at this point.
Now for more from the AFC:
- Steelers LB Ryan Shazier has regained movement in his legs and is engaging in a regular walking routine, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. One source familiar with Shazier’s recovery said that Shazier is making “incredible progress.”
- The Broncos requested permission to interview Texans offensive/special teams assistant Wes Welker for its WRs coach position, per Mike Klis of 9News (via Twitter). Had Denver hired Welker in that capacity, it would have represented a promotion for him, but Houston denied the request. The Broncos hired Zach Azzanni as WRs coach instead.
- It seems fairly clear that the Raiders violated the Rooney Rule when they agreed to hire Jon Gruden as their next coach before interviewing any minority candidates, but commissioner Roger Goodell insisted during his state of the league address last week that Oakland was in compliance with the Rule. However, the way in which Goodell delivered that affirmation has raised plenty of eyebrows (as Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports discusses in detail), and if the Raiders were found to be in compliance with the Rule, it seems unlikely any team will be found to have violated it in the future.
Goodell is desperate not to have anymore scandals that cause the NFL to lose more fans/viewers. So, everybody has carte Blanche to do whatever they want without repercussions. You know New England knows that and is likely going to put the knowledge to good use today. Hope the Eagles hide their play books.
I can’t stand the Patriots either, but you
take the cake madman! Conspiracy theory’s abound!
The best news in all of that is the Shazier news.
The Rooney rule is nothing more than a publicity stunt. If you fired your coach to hire a specific coach why even waste the minority coaches time with a sham interview. There has to be a better system!
Agreed. Interviewing the minirity coach st that point is lip service and merely obeying the letter and not the spirit of the rule. I’m fine if they have one specific guy targeted and hire him, they should be able to. They shouldn’t be forced to conduct sham interviews to satisfy the rule. If they interview more than one person, then I agree they should need to include minorities.