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Sunday Roundup: Manziel, Forsett, Jags

January 17th, 2016 at 12:50pm CST by Rory Parks

As the Panthers have their way with the Seahawks in the early going of this afternoon’s Divisional Round matchup, let’s take a look at some news and notes from around the league:

  • We heard just a few days ago that new Browns head coach Hue Jackson was prepared to move on from Johnny Manziel, and the comments he made during a Bleacher Report interview this morning reaffirmed that sentiment. Per Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jackson told Bleacher Report that if Manziel was, in fact, in Las Vegas during the season finale, that would indicate to him that Manziel is not starter material. Jackson then went on to say, “I do believe that this team does need a quarterback.”
  • Although it’s certainly not a lock, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com believes the Ravens will bring back Justin Forsett next season. The team would gain only $900K of salary cap space by cutting Forsett, and although the other backs on the team’s depth chart have shown some promise, they have significant flaws and are largely unproven.
  • Packers WR Randall Cobb suffered a bruised lung in last night’s heartbreaking loss to the Cardinals, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Jason Wilde of ESPN.com tweets that the team does not yet have an update on Cobb.
  • Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley has finally begun his search for a new defensive coordinator in earnest, bringing in Marquand Manuel and Lou Anarumo for interviews last week. Per Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union, Bradley hopes to have the search wrapped up by January 25, and Manuel and/or Anarumo could join the Jacksonville coaching staff even if they don’t land the coordinator position. O’Halloran adds that current defensive line coach Todd Wash could still be promoted to DC.
  • In a separate piece, O’Halloran looks at the issues facing the Jaguars‘ new DC, whoever it may be, including what to do with Jonathan Cyprien and whether the team should pursue an elite corner like Prince Amukamara or Greg Toler in free agency or if it can afford to look for a second-tier option.
  • Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com offers his breakdown of the Titans‘ cap situation and free agency outlook.
  • Mark Maske of the Washington Post observes that the teams looking for a new head coach this offseason were thinking offensively. Of the seven new hires, five were offensive coordinators, and the other two (Mike Mularkey and Chip Kelly) are of course offensive-minded.

Browns Rumors: Manziel, QB, Mayhew, DC

January 14th, 2016 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

When the Browns hired Hue Jackson as their new head coach, we heard almost immediately that the former Bengals offensive coordinator had made it clear he was prepared to move on from former first-round pick Johnny Manziel. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link) echoes that sentiment, suggesting that the young signal-caller is “all but gone,” and it’s just a formality at this point that Cleveland will part ways with him.

According to Cole, the Browns, who hold the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, are strongly considering using that selection on a quarterback, whether it’s Jared Goff, Paxton Lynch, or someone else. Waiting until the second round to nab a QB is also an option for Cleveland — it’s worth noting that, with the Browns and Titans flip-flopping in the second round, and the Patriots not having their first-round pick this year, Cleveland’s second pick will be 32nd overall, essentially making it a first-rounder.

Here are a few more Browns updates:

  • The Browns are attempting to move quickly to fill the vacancy in their front office, according to Josina Anderson of ESPN.com, who tweets that former Lions GM Martin Mayhew is a candidate for the job.
  • The opening in the Browns’ front office is a top personnel position, but not technically a general manager job, which means other teams will have more leeway to deny requests to interview their executives. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter), that has already happened with the Bears — the Browns requested permission to speak to Bears director of college scouting Joe Douglas, and Chicago turned them down.
  • Earlier this afternoon, we learned that Titans defensive coordinator Ray Horton is considered a top candidate for the Browns’ defensive coordinator job, if Tennessee is willing to let him go. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com (Twitter link) hears that Buccaneers DC Leslie Frazier is also a candidate for the same position in Cleveland.
  • The Browns won’t retain quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell, according to Pat McManamon of ESPN.com. While O’Connell did a decent job with Manziel this past season, Jackson wants to pick his own guy for the job.

Browns Hire Hue Jackson As Head Coach

January 13th, 2016 at 2:34pm CST by Luke Adams

2:34pm: The Browns have officially announced the hiring of Jackson in a press release. The team’s new head coach will arrive in town today and meet with reporters tonight at 5:30pm CT.

“[Jackson] is highly experienced, deeply passionate about winning, and relentless in trying to find ways to put his players in the best position to succeed,” owner Jimmy Haslam said in a statement. “He possesses that unique ability to reach the entire locker room in a way that demands accountability while getting the buy-in and team-first mentality that leads to positive results. I think our players will love playing for him.”

11:59am: Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson is heading to a division rival, and will become the next head coach of the Browns, reports Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). Jackson confirms the move to Michael Silver of NFL Media, telling Silver that Cleveland “made me feel comfortable” (Twitter link).Hue Jackson (vertical)

[RELATED: Browns add Paul DePodesta to front office]

Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter links) was the first to report that Jackson and the Browns were working on finalizing a deal. According to Schefter, the Browns will lock up the former Raiders head coach before he gets on a flight to New York — Jackson had been scheduled to interview with the Giants today or tomorrow.

Since 2003, Jackson has held four separate offensive coordinator jobs, in Washington, Atlanta, Oakland, and Cincinnati. He also served as a position coach for several of those clubs, as well as the Ravens, where he coached the quarterbacks in 2008 and 2009.

Jackson’s only previous shot at a head coaching job came in 2011, when he led the Raiders to an 8-8 record. Despite the respectable result, Jackson was let go after one season when Oakland hired GM Reggie McKenzie, who preferred to bring in his own head coach.

Although he also drew interest from the 49ers and the Giants, Jackson was pursued most aggressively by the Browns, who made a “big push” this week to land him. Although the organization has a reputation as a dysfunctional one, and there’s some skepticism about how the new analytics-oriented front office will perform, the Cleveland job was somewhat appealing to candidates, since it came with more personnel say than some of the other head coaching positions around the NFL.

Jackson is expected to report directly to owner Jimmy Haslam, and will work with a front office that features Sashi Brown and former MLB executive Paul DePodesta. Neither Brown nor DePodesta have any real experience making NFL personnel decisions, and while Brown is expected to make the final call on those decisions, Jackson should have some level of influence over the team’s roster. For instance, Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (Twitter link) hears that Jackson “made it clear he’d want to move on” from Johnny Manziel.

With Jackson off the market, the Giants may turn to candidates like Mike Smith, Doug Marrone, or Ben McAdoo for their head coaching vacancy, while the 49ers – who reportedly backed off on their pursuit of Jackson yesterday – figure to consider Chip Kelly, Dirk Koetter, and Tom Coughlin, among others. Earlier today, I checked in with those head coaching searches to see where they stood.

The Browns are the second team this month to hire a new head coach, joining the Dolphins, who brought Adam Gase aboard.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Extra Points: Manziel, Brees, Lions

January 6th, 2016 at 8:01pm CST by Zachary Links

Typically, athletes and celebrities move on from their marketing companies and not the other way around. Unfortunately, in the case of Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, he has been dumped by LeBron James’ marketing agency, as Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes.

“We’ve decided to end our formal business relationship with Johnny,” said Maverick Carter, James’ long-time friend and business partner who runs LRMR. “I will continue to support and advise him as a friend. However, because Johnny needs to focus on personal growth, the next phase of his career and because LRMR continues to expand beyond marketing, we made the mutual decision that it was best to terminate our business relationship.”

Sources close to LRMR maintain that the firm is shifting toward more of a focus on managing James’ other business ventures and that a parting of ways with Manziel as a client has been planned for a while. However, Manziel’s most recent weekend of partying has apparently bumped up that timeline. To read more about LeBron’s on-court business, head to our sister site, HoopsRumors.com.

Here’s a glance at some news from around the NFL:

Johnny Manziel, RGIII Both Want To Play For Cowboys

January 5th, 2016 at 4:06pm CST by Zachary Links

A pair of big name quarterbacks are both eager to come home and play for the Cowboys. Both Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III are hoping to wind up in Dallas and both are hoping that owner Jerry Jones will make that happen, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports writes. Johnny Manziel

Both players are expected to become available this offseason – Manziel via trade or release by a new Browns regime and RG3 via a salary dump. Sources close to each player tell Robinson that, since spring 2015, there was a belief that Jones would be interested in both signal callers if either was to hit the open market. Now, it sounds like both players are hoping that could come to fruition in 2016. For what it’s worth Jones said in a radio interview that he’s willing to take “some risk” at quarterback (Twitter link via Mac Engel of The Fan).

Meanwhile, in a radio interview, Jones said that he would indeed be comfortable with drafting a quarterback with the fourth pick if he was best player available, as Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram writes. The Cowboys also need help at running back, cornerback, and receiver, so it’s not a given that they will take a QB with their top pick.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

King’s Latest: Mularkey, Manziel, Bradford

January 4th, 2016 at 9:52am CST by Luke Adams

Even though Mike Mularkey is technically the Titans‘ interim head coach, rather than the team’s permanent solution, that doesn’t necessarily mean the club will conduct a full-fledged coaching search. According to Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com, the Titans have yet to reach out to any top outside coaching candidates, even as other teams begin to schedule and conduct interviews.

There has been a little more buzz lately suggesting that the Titans are seriously considering sticking with Mularkey, and in his latest Monday Morning Quarterback column, Peter King of TheMMQB.com suggests that Mularkey looks safer than anticipated. Tennessee has yet to announce any sort of decision yet, but we should find out soon whether the club intends to interview outside candidates or simply move forward with Mularkey.

Here are a few more noteworthy tidbits from King’s latest MMQB:

  • According to King, the Browns don’t want Johnny Manziel anymore, “but won’t say so for fear of eliminating [his] trade value.” While King doesn’t expect Manziel to play another snap for Cleveland, it’s worth noting that a new head coach and general manager may feel differently about the former first-round pick.
  • Sam Bradford won’t be motivated to sign with the Eagles over any other team in free agency, says King. If the Eagles don’t use their franchise tag on Bradford, it sounds like the former first overall pick will reach the open market, since agent Tom Condon likes to maximize his client’s earnings, and Bradford “isn’t crazy about Philadelphia” as a city, according to King.
  • Doug Marrone‘s interview for the Browns‘ head coaching job will take place on Tuesday, per King. The former Bills head coach also reportedly has an interview lined up with the Dolphins.

Browns Links: Coaching/GM Search, Manziel, Thomas

January 3rd, 2016 at 7:41pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

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.

Johnny Manziel Reportedly Seen In Las Vegas Saturday Night

January 3rd, 2016 at 12:24pm CST by Rory Parks

12:24pm: Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that, although it is unclear as to whether Manziel actually was in Las Vegas last night, the fact that he is in the concussion protocol means that he is not required to be at the team’s game this afternoon, nor is he prohibited from being in Las Vegas (all Twitter links). As Ulrich writes, Manziel is not, in fact, at the game.

11:15am: Johnny Manziel has sparked yet another media frenzy, as Scott Boeck of USA Today reports that the Browns quarterback was seen dining and gambling at the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood casino last night.

Ordinarily, this report would be newsworthy because a team probably frowns upon a player’s being several thousand miles away on a Saturday evening when said team is set to play its last game of the season the following Sunday afternoon. But because this is Manziel, and because everything he does could be the last thing he does as a member of the Browns, the report has predictably generated a great deal of discussion.

Of course, Manziel had already been ruled out of today’s game against the Steelers because of a concussion. Boeck writes that team vice president of communications Peter John Baptiste would not confirm whether Manziel was in Cleveland, or if club policy dictated that an inactive player’s attendance was required at Sunday’s game. As word of Manziel’s alleged appearance in Las Vegas spread, the quarterback himself posted a photo to his Instagram account showing him and his dog at his Avon, Ohio home. The post was accompanied with the hashtag #SaturdayNights.

Although Manziel has had flashes of good performance when he has seen the field, those performances have been far outweighed by his well-documented off-field struggles, leading prominent beat writers like Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal to opine that the team should part ways with the enigmatic signal-caller after the season. Of course, given that the Browns are set to have a new GM and head coach within the next couple of weeks, Manziel’s future was up in the air even before the USA Today report.

As Tom Withers of the Associated Press writes, the Browns have declined to comment on the story at this time.

 

AFC Notes: Manziel, Osemele, McKelvin, Allen

December 30th, 2015 at 8:51pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Browns head coach Mike Pettine said earlier this week that the team was considering disciplining quarterback Johnny Manziel for a video that featured him guzzling a black cherry Four Loko – an alcoholic drink – on Christmas Eve. After further review, Pettine stated Wednesday that he wouldn’t have benched Manziel this week, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports. That’s moot now, of course, as Manziel is out with a concussion. Still, given that Manziel spent 73 days in rehab for alcohol issues last offseason and the Browns benched him earlier this season when a different party video surfaced, the organization finds this latest incident concerning, according to Cabot.

Here’s more from the AFC:

  • Ravens left tackle Kelechi Osemele is a candidate to hit free agency this offseason, but the 26-year-old is confident about staying in Baltimore after a chat he had with general manager Ozzie Newsome. “He was really positive about it,” Osemele said, per Clifton Brown of CSNMidAtlantic.com. “I was positive about staying. I think we’ve done great work here, and obviously working with someone like that, you want to stay. You want to be around a guy like Ozzie.” Osemele went on to state that “I know if we can get a deal done, we will.”
  • If the Bills cut veteran cornerback Leodis McKelvin in the offseason, they’ll open up $3.9MM of cap room in 2016. That makes his departure a strong possibility, but the eight-year veteran seems open to a pay cut if it means staying in Buffalo. “I have a lot of money in the bank,” he told Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News, also adding that he’s willing to move to safety if necessary.
  • Like McKelvin, Colts tight end Dwayne Allen could also be in a different uniform next year. Allen, whom Indy placed on IR with a calf injury Wednesday, wasn’t happy with his diminished role in the team’s passing game this season, according to Mike Chappell of Fox59 (Twitter link). As a pending free agent, it seems Allen has played his last game as a Colt.

Browns May Discipline Johnny Manziel Again

December 28th, 2015 at 10:00pm CST by Zachary Links

The Browns may be forced to discipline Johnny Manziel yet again after yet another video of him drinking has surfaced. Coach Mike Pettine hasn’t made a final decision yet, but he admits that the team could punish the quarterback after he was filmed on Christmas Eve guzzling a black cherry Four Loko.

“Anytime there’s something with our players that casts them potentially in a bad light, whether it’s Johnny or any of our other guys, it’s certainly a concern,” said Pettine (via Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer). “I’m sure I’ll see it, I’ll have a discussion with him about it.”

Pettine indicated that the newest Manziel video is not asáegregious as the one from earlier this year when Manziel was captured partying at a club in Austin, Texas. That incident got Manziel temporarily demoted from starter to third-string quarterback, though it was widely reported that the Browns were more upset about him lying about the event than the event itself.

“These circumstances are different from the incident that occurred before,” said Pettine, who vowed to come down hard on Manziel if he stepped out of line again. “But I’m just not going to go into a ton of detail with it until I get a little bit more information about it, but it’s something that I’m sure privately we’ll discuss if it needs to be discussed.”

Manziel spent 73 days in an addiction treatment center in the offseason and it’s believed that his treatment plan calls for him to abstain from alcohol. Manziel rushed for 108 yards against the Chiefs on Sunday and, at times, looked strong, but the Browns also need to worry about the Texas A&M product’s behavior off the field. The Browns will likely finish with one of the top two picks in the 2016 draft and they’ll need to figure out whether to use that selection on a quarterback or ride with the troubled Manziel.

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