Jimmy Haslam introduces Joe Banner as Browns CEO


Image source: Browns Official Facebook Page

In another impressive news conference, Jimmy Haslam introduced Joe Banner to the Cleveland media today. We heard many of things that we often hear when a new regime takes over, but for the first time the chief executive was joined by an owner who is committed to being involved in the management of the franchise. After Randy Lerner’s absentee ownership, Haslam and Banner came across as a breath of fresh air.

Many in the media are quite giddy, and for good reason. Just having a leader like Jimmy Haslam coupled with a smart and capable NFL executive should bode well for the Browns in the future. That said, nothing Joe Banner said was materially different from what Mike Holmgren said when he took over as team president. The goal was to get a team of smart people who would all be on the same page working towards a common goal. Both emphasized building through the draft. Banner seems open to strategically using free agency, but he emphasized that free agents can be counterproductive if you sign them before a team is ready to compete.

Frankly, Holmgren has started a youth movement with the Browns that should provide a nice foundation for Haslam and Banner, regardless of whether they keep Tom Heckert and Pat Shurmur. On that front they seem genuine in their statements that both men will be evaluated at the end of the year. But assuming they don’t do something stupid, like bring in a GM and head coach who want to run the 3-4 over the 4-3, they should be fine as long as they can identify good coaches and GM candidates. I do hope they keep Heckert, and Shurmur should get consideration if he turns the season around, but Haslam and Banner need to get comfortable with these guys.

On offense, the system matters less, as all of these players can fit into another system. But on defense, switching to the 3-4 and in effect throwing away three productive drafts that have built the foundation of a good defensive front would be idiotic. I don’t expect that.

Many are enjoying kicking Mike Holmgren while he’s down, but his legacy is hardly set in stone. He and Heckert have gone with a dramatic youth movement. If the Browns are in the playoffs in the next couple of years with guys like Trent Richardson, Josh Gordon, Brandon Weeden, Phil Taylor and Joe Haden leading the way, many of us will happily credit Holmgren and Heckert for building the foundation of that success.

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Jimmy Haslam approved as new Browns owner

It’s official. Jimmy Haslam has been approved by the NFL owners as the new owner of the Cleveland Browns, ending the disappointing Lerner era.

Now we can move from the silly speculation we hear every day on talk radio to hearing from Haslam himself along with Joe Banner.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on what he’ll do. I’m just going to wait and listen. Based on what Haslam has said so far, he’ll probably make more changes to the business side of the Browns operation before he makes changes to the football operations. Also, he’s expressed his philosophy of building through the draft, so we can expect him to build upon the current youth movement.

It’s been reported that he’ll wait until the end of the season to make changes to the football operations. Let’s see if he confirms that today or tomorrow. It would be the smart thing to do. Regardless of your opinions of Pat Shurmur, Tom Heckert and Mike Holmgren, we should wait until the end of this season before passing judgement on the rebuilding process. Just several weeks ago, some talking heads were ready to write of Josh Gordon for example, but after the past two games he looks like a real threat at the wide receiver position. And of course we had some fans calling for Brandon Weeden’s head after his awful debut, but we’ve since seen him develop nicely.

I’m excited about the new ownership. Randy Lerner was loyal to Cleveland and he spent money, but the man was clueless. Let’s hope Haslam’s business experience leads to a better era for Browns football. It can’t be much worse.

Impressions of Jimmy Haslam

You only have one chance to make a first impression, and Jimmy Haslam took full advantage of his first news conference to win over Browns fans and the media. Here are some of my first impressions:

Confidence without arrogance

Jimmy Haslam is a very confident man, but he doesn’t come across as arrogant. He talked about listening and learning. He stressed the importance of “collective wisdom,” explaining that having five smart people in the room to hash out an issue is better than four. So he’s smart enough to know what he doesn’t know, and he’s confident enough to surround himself with smart people. He sounds like a natural leader.

Has not made final decision on Mike Holmgren

All of the haters in Cleveland, particularly certain radio talk show hosts, will have to wait a bit, and perhaps much longer, to dance on Mike Holmgren’s grave. Haslam acknowledged that this young team seems to be heading in the right direction and he made sure to mention Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert. Haslam made it a point to say he would not be commenting now on personnel, but he stressed the importance of putting in place the right team, and he implied he would have an open mind toward Holmgren.

We just might see Holmgren around here for a while. Of course his role will change as Joe Banner is expected to come in as the new team president. Banner is an expert on the business side of football as well as putting together the football operation. With Haslam’s business background and Joe Banner, there’s no need at all for Mike Holmgren to have anything beyond a transitional role on the business side of things.

But when it comes to football operations, Joe Banner’s philosophy is very consistent with what Mike Holmgren has been trying to do here.

Here’s a great profile of Joe Banner, which among other things points out that he isn’t perfect, and that many sports talk radio hosts can be idiots in every NFL town. Here’s one interesting detail:

From the get-go, it was a stretch for Lurie and Banner, two guys with zero experience in professional sports, to think they could march into Philadelphia and take over the Eagles. But they believed, in fact they were dead sure, that they would figure it out. Take the hiring of Andy Reid in 1999, which is Banner’s favorite story. No one had ever hired a head coach who hadn’t run a college team or overseen an offense or defense in the NFL; an impressive coaching résumé was deemed crucial. That was completely backwards thinking, Banner decided. He and Lurie analyzed the qualities the most successful coaches shared — scrupulous attention to detail, absolute commitment to a philosophy, obliviousness to public criticism … hello, Andy Reid! Never mind that Reid was an obscure Green Bay assistant coach. Banner’s and Lurie’s huge risk — just to remind our listeners out there — became the winningest coach in team history.

The “absolute commitment to a philosophy” is exactly what Mike Holmgren has created here in Cleveland, including most importantly Tom Heckert and Pat Shurmur. When it comes to football operations, there seems to be a way for Banner and Holmgren to work together, at least for a little while as Mike eases into retirement.

Yesterday on WKNR, the Hooligans seemed totally shocked when Sal Paolantonio stated that of course Joe Banner could work with Mike Holmgren, citing the fact that Banner is not the football guy. His job is to put the right football people in place.

Given Haslam’s “listen and learn” approach, the fact that the Browns are young with potential, and that Holmgren has established a football philosophy, I don’t expect Haslam and Banner to “blow things up” as others have reported. If the Browns improve this season, I suspect they will strongly consider keeping Heckert and Shurmer in place, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Holmgren stays on as a consultant.

Haslam will be committed to Cleveland and the Browns

Tony Grossi reported that Haslam went to every Steelers game, home and away, in the four years he was a minority owner. He will be passionately committed to the Browns, and he also indicated a desire to become involved in the community in Cleveland.

ESPN gives Browns no respect

In one of the dumber features we’ve seen from ESPN, they decided to project out the NFL power rankings for 2015. Yeah, this seems like an idiotic exercise, but that’s ESPN these days. Everyone is desperate for content it seems.

Their panel of “experts” ranked the Browns 32 out of 32 teams. Here’s the write-up, though you’ll have to be an ESPN member to see the whole article.

Roster: RB Trent Richardson should be the best running back in the league in 2015 and young stars like LT Joe Thomas, DE Jabaal Sheard and CB Joe Haden should be in their prime. But there is still a lot of uncertainty with the Browns’ roster for the long term. — Williamson

Quarterback: Brandon Weeden has talent, but Cleveland will want to play him right away. The concern is if he struggles early. He’s older, but will they be patient with him if he takes time to adjust to the NFL game like most rookies? He doesn’t have more physical experience, just years. Bottom line: This is a totally unsettled situation headed into 2012. — Dilfer

Draft: If Weeden doesn’t pan out — and they probably feel compelled to know soon — the Browns will be set back. The draft isn’t the reason they’re this low; the Browns have made some really good picks. The problem is they’re still waiting on a good QB pick. It’s been a long time since they’ve had one. Weeden needs to be the answer, or they’re running in place. — Kiper

Front office: Color me skeptical of the Browns’ front office — and this organization isn’t exactly patient. Cleveland’s front office is now directly tied to Weeden’s future success. I can’t say that is the perfect position to be in. — Williamson

Coaching: Since rejoining the league, few teams have had turnover comparable to the Browns. So if things don’t improve in the very near future, what are the chances that this current staff retains its jobs for the next few years? Brad Childress has taken over the offensive coordinator job. With Richardson now to lean on, expect Childress to run the ball much more than the Browns did in 2011. — Williamson

So these geniuses assume that TRich will be the best back in the NFL and that the Browns have been drafting well recently. But they also realize that Weeden was just picked and they have no idea yet on how he will do. Then they assume that if things don’t improve we’ll see a change in the regime, even though Tom Heckert clearly has been doing a great job. Matt Williamson seems to be the dumbest of the bunch.

If Weeden pans out, this might end up being the dumbest ESPN article of the decade.

Travis Benjamin highlights

Some Browns fans are disappointed that the Browns didn’t get more help at wide receiver in the draft, but I’m pretty high on the Travis Benjamin pick. I wanted a receiver with speed, and Benjamin is a legitimate burner, with speed in the 4.3 ballpark.

Check out the video highlights above. The kid isn’t just a slot receiver, as he makes plenty of plays on the outside.

The issue with Benjamin is size, as he’s 5′ 10″ and 172 pounds, but that’s pretty much the exact same size as DeSean Jackson, the stud wide receiver in Philly that Tom Heckert drafted in the second round.

With Brandon Weeden, we now have a quarterback that can throw the deep ball, so defensive coordinators will need to pay attention when a speed demon like Benjamin is on the field. I love the idea of Weeden hitting Benjamin on a slant when the defense blitzes. Nobody would catch him!

Pat Shurmer seemed truly excited when discussing Benjamin and the potential of using him with his speed. We’ll see how he does, but I’m excited about this pick.