Despite John Dorsey and the Browns parting ways, assistant GM Eliot Wolf remains in his position. And the Browns are considering pairing him with another former Packers coworker.
Mike McCarthy will be the Browns’ first HC interview, with Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer noting the longtime Green Bay coach will meet with the Browns on Thursday. The Browns, who have gone through numerous front office structures under Jimmy Haslam, are considering a McCarthy-Wolf power structure, Cabot adds.
Wolf was in Green Bay for each of McCarthy’s nine playoff appearances as Packers coach, working with the Packers from 2004-17. The final four of those years featured Wolf as either the Packers’ director of player personnel or director of football operations. The second-generation NFL executive left for Cleveland in 2018, when former Packers exec Dorsey joined as Browns GM. The Browns appear to be considering a promotion for the son of Hall of Fame exec Ron Wolf. Eliot Wolf has interviewed for GM jobs in the past, and he may be back on the radar — despite the latest upheaval at Browns headquarters.
McCarthy, 56, has already interviewed with the Panthers and will meet with the Giants this weekend. He was on the Browns’ radar during the 2019 hiring period but did not meet with team brass. The Browns ended the 2010s with seven head coaches and are obviously hoping for some semblance of stability entering the next decade.
Several other candidates are on the Browns’ HC radar. Josh McDaniels, Eric Bieniemy, Greg Roman, Kevin Stefanski and 49ers assistants Robert Saleh, Mike McDaniel and Matt LaFleur. Baylor head coach Matt Rhule turned down the opportunity to interview with the Browns.
Cleveland’s next head coach may need to make a greater commitment to analytics, with Cabot adding that Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta is planning to incorporate more analytical concepts into the team’s game plans. This blueprint did not appear to be a hit with Dorsey or Freddie Kitchens, with a source informing Cabot it only complicated matters further for an “in over his head” Kitchens.
I would personally love to see this for them
I am right there with you friend..this time me is the ONLY pairing I can get behind.
The experience alone is enticing along with playoff successes and a SB. McCarthy & Wolf would work well in my opinion. I have been a fan since 1975, I mean Die Hard. Every season I put my all into this team, while coming away disappointed. So MacWolf is the way to go in 2020.
As an Packer fan I’m hoping McCarthy gets the job. I saw an interview and it sounds like he learned a lot in his year off. He’s great working with quarterbacks and could get this team to 10 or 11 wins in a hurry with the talent they have. I think he deserves another chance.
I hope it’s him..he’s my only choice MacWolf pairing is the only way to come away with the experience and playoff success that is desired. See Haslam wants Josh McDaniels and that’s a no go for me, it sounds like she gets a say though which sucks. I wish they would do what Carolina did, get him in here tomorrow and don’t let him leave. Forget the long list, because when you let him leave, watch the Giants sign him and then we see screwed and have to “settle” like we have been doing over and over. Last year I would have hired him ASAP, but they try Kitchens out. I was so angry that they screwed us for another wasted season.
Not a fan of McCarthy. Look at how much he held Aaron Rodgers and the Packers back. Night & day.
Rodgers was so dominating this year, not.
Numbers are the same for Rogers this year. Quit believing the sound bites of sports radio.
Held him back how? Last I checked he won mvps under Mccarthy
Aaron drug McCarthy’s sorry teams to the playoffs while mike continued to call the same plays over and over
Drug???
Held Rodgers Back ??
Fake News .
He’s better than some of the other options out there. Has a ring to prove it.
Amen pad..it’s Mac or bust for this longtime Browns fan since 1975.
Come on Haslams…he leaves town without an offer, I am betting the Giants snag him.
Pull a Carolina and just grab him TODAY after the interview.
Why do Packers fans defend and promote McCarthy so much? He wasn’t a very good head coach and did very little with a generational QB. If he was a decent coach, he would still be with the packers. He’s a flame out. Pass. Eliot is probably fine, pass on McCarthy. Pass on McDaniels while I’m at it.
As a packer fan, I absolutely do NOT defend him at all. Wasted Rodgers in his prime, mostly because his blind allegiance to dom capers as his dc who was awful. The day he was fired, was a dang good day.
Yes McCarthey ran his course but he was an all-time franchise great coach for a while, and should bring stability to Browns organization if he’s hired. Wolf is an up and coming star GM that Packers would be happy to have if they didn’t have another budding GM. I think Rodgers is just a complicated guy and it worked with McCarthey for many years.
Lmao don’t forget Ted Thompson’s excellent drafting and approach to free agents
Thompson and his dumpster dive approach to FA was more the one to waste it than MM imho. How many times were we 1 player away and they’d have plenty of cap space to have 2 good players.
McCarthey was holding the Packers back so bad. A guy who was hired because he knew Sean Mcvay came in and took them to 13-3 with the exact same offense.
But not the same defense
McCarthey was an all-time great Packers coach and would bring the stability the Browns organization needs. Eliot Wolf is a budding star GM that Packers would’ve loved to have but we had another budding GM in the wing. Packers fans only remember the last few years when the McCarthey regime ran out of magic (which probably had more to do with Rodgers injuries than anything). But to say he wasted Rodgers in his prime is idiotic.
Amen give him a contract Haslams…don’t let him leave town…or he’s NY bound and they will sign him.
Our FO is so dumb they won’t get him and we will be stuck with a coordinator and the scraps because he who hesitates is lost.
Tired of hearing all the assistants and OC and DC interviews please make the McCarthy hire happen and get this team back to winning football
Agree !!!
It’s been a long, long time since the stability of the Paul Brown and Blanton Collier years in Cleveland!
Blanton Collier —- now there’s a blast from the past. I have not heard his name in years!
Should interview urban meyer
Yeah just what they need, another coach with zero pro coaching experience…..
No WAY…no inexperienced COLLEGIATE coaches, been doing the coordinators here too long and that’s been a problem. Get Mac and his experience, playoff success and SB win.
This is my ideal choice. Wolf needs to be promoted, and the fact that he’s been in the organization helps too (as opposed to an outside exec that would just tear apart the team like every new exec does to make it “his team”).
I’m on the fence about McCarthy, but if he’s really taken this year to reflect on what went wrong at the end of his Green Bay tenure (which he apparently has), then I’m on board. I’m so tired of the Browns hiring unproven assistants that aren’t ready. McCarthy, at the very least, offers experience, which is what this roster needs.
I hope they hire this duo. With what Mcwhacky did in Green Bay just write off the next 5 years of the Browns winning anything. 5 years of good for the rest of the AFC