Browns Notes: Horton, O-Line, Cap Room

Titans defensive coordinator Ray Horton arrives in Cleveland today for his interview with the Browns, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. According to Rapoport, the Browns have made it clear that they want to hire Horton and things could happen quickly between the two sides.

It was just two days ago that Horton took exception to a report suggesting that he was heading to the Browns after being upset by not being given a fair shot at the Titans’ head coaching job — at the time, Horton indicated he was working on a contract extension to remain in Tennessee, so if he lands with the Browns later in the week, it would be a quick turnaround.

Here’s more from out of Cleveland:

• Following up on Horton, Rapoport adds (via Twitter) that the Browns are paying his salary from his initial contract with the team, so Cleveland has some extra incentive to bring him aboard again.
• Already in the midst of a rebuild, the Browns risk creating a hole that doesn’t currently exist on the offensive line as free agency approaches, writes Pat McManamon of ESPN.com. As McManamon observes, center Alex Mack can opt out of his contract, right tackle Mitchell Schwartz is eligible for free agency, and left tackle Joe Thomas has hinted that he may ask to be traded. The offensive line has been one of Cleveland’s strong spots in recent years, so the club will have to do all it can to keep at least one or two members of this trio.
• Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap looks ahead to the Browns’ offseason, focusing on the club’s cap situation and its pending free agents. Per Fitzgerald, the team currently projects to have about $35MM in cap space, but that figure could end up increasing to close to $60MM.
• In an interesting piece for TheMMQB.com, Jenny Vrentas examines the interview process for head coaching candidates, including what sort of questions interviewees can expect to be asked, and what sort of traits team executives are looking for. Within the piece, Vrentas notes that candidates who interviewed with the Browns this year had to ask about the team’s front office structure, featuring Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta.