It took the Cleveland Browns less than a day to replace Sashi Brown as general manager. Last night, while the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints were squaring off on Thursday Night Football, the Browns announced former Kansas City Chiefs GM John Dorsey signed a four-year contract with the team.
Browns reached agreement with former Chiefs GM John Dorsey to become Cleveland’s new GM, sources tell @mortreport and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 8, 2017
According to the NFL Network, Dorsey will have complete control over the Browns’ roster, draft and free agency acquisitions, completely removing head coach (for now) Hue Jackson out of the picture.
“Football is what I know, it is what I love, it is what I have worked my whole career at and I thrive on every element that goes into building a winning football team,” Dorsey said in a statement. “I have spent a majority of my football life with two franchises that also have storied history and I think I have a feel for the mentality of the fans in Cleveland and what it would mean to recreate the success this franchise once had.”
The 57-year-old Dorsey was the GM for the Chiefs from 2013-2016 and was fired in the off-season in a surprise move. Apparently there were plenty of disagreements between Dorsey and head coach Andy Reid and one of them had to go. Still, Dorsey drafted extremely well and made plenty of good free agent moves. The Chiefs seemed to always be competitive and this is a coup for Cleveland. Frankly, I’m surprised Dorsey agreed to take the job.
“I also have quickly realized how passionate (Browns owners) Jimmy and Dee (Haslam)] are about bringing a winning team to the city,” Dorsey said. “And would have not taken the job if I didn’t think the right ownership was in place. I am eager to work with Hue (Jackson), his staff, and our personnel department and help bring us the success these fans so deserve.”
Former Chiefs GM John Dorsey named Browns general manager: https://t.co/boJ1TrX58S pic.twitter.com/WvIY3XzC7R
— NFL (@NFL) December 8, 2017
But, really, how eager is he to work with Jackson? Haslam seemingly already put his foot into his stupid mouth by stating publicly that Jackson would return to coach the team in 2018. Was Dorsey involved in that decision? Or is Dorsey just the natural fall guy to blame if they do fire Jackson at the end of the season. Haslam can just say something like, “John really felt like we needed to go another way.”
Dorsey wasted no time in putting his stamp on the team’s roster. Friday afternoon wide receiver Kenny Britt was asked to leave the building. Britt signed a four-year, $32.5 million contract in the off-season and never made it to the 14th game. He caught 68 passes for 1,002 yards and five touchdowns last season with the Los Angeles Rams. It was the first 1000-yard season of his career. This year, in nine games, he’d caught just 18 passes total for 233 yards and two touchdowns.
https://twitter.com/joebucks3647/status/938960178749337600
Now, blaming Britt alone for the shitshow the Browns have unleashed on offense is stupid, but Dorsey obviously wants to eat all his cap money this year and have him completely off the books for 2018.
According to Haslam, upgrading the signal caller is Dorsey’s first job. With five picks in the first two rounds and likely the top pick in the draft, he’ll be able to select whoever he wants.
“Let me say it this way: The Cleveland Browns are not going to be successful until we get a quarterback,” Haslam said. “And we obviously have DeShone (Kizer) and two other quarterbacks on the roster. We’re going to look at free agency and the draft. As it was mentioned earlier, we have a substantial amount of capital. We’re going to do whatever it takes to find the quarterback we need to be successful. That will be John’s No. 1 priority. We’re going to do whatever it takes to get a QB.”
I've learned from a lot of talented people over the last decade and John Dorsey is one of the top-3 sharpest when it comes to football evaluation. #Browns are getting a good one.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) December 8, 2017
There should be plenty of options out there for the Browns and they have the cash to spend. Sam Bradford, Kirk Cousins and Case Keenum will all be free agents. Unless they sign Cousins, they’ll have to take a QB in this upcoming draft, an option they’ve completely blown the last two seasons. They traded out of the Carson Wentz pick in 2016 and the Deshaun Watson pick back in April. Hell, back in 2016 they could have picked both Wentz and Dak Prescott both.
“We are thrilled to have John Dorsey lead our football operations,” the Haslams said. “John has been immersed in the NFL for 26 years, won two Super Bowls, built sustainable winning football teams and is highly respected for his football acumen. We know we have a critical and very positive opportunity ahead of us to profoundly impact the foundation of this football team. Bringing in someone of John Dorsey’s caliber, his track record of success and his experience, significantly strengthens our opportunities to build a winning football team and that has been, and continues to be, what we want for our fans.”
John Dorsey mentions "sleeping giant" "iconic franchise" "AFC North" "Rolling up sleeves" mentioned great fanbase but not "Dawg Pound" yet. One of you out there have already hit a Bingo.
— Ken Carman (@KenCarman) December 8, 2017
What the fans would like is for the team to suck considerably less.
SHAZIER HAS BACK SURGERY
This doesn’t sound good. Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier has undergone spinal stabilization surgery Thursday at a Pittsburgh hospital. He was injured on what looked like a routine play Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. Spinal stabilization surgery involves inserting some hardware-based implant to stabilize a section of the spine. It’s supposed to assist in the neurological recovery and none of that bodes well for Shazier.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcYOK2xDrEK/?taken-by=mrs.shazier50
At this point, we just have to hope he can end up walking alright when this is all over. Needless to say, Shazier is done for the year. He might be done for a career as well.
“We’re all praying for him (Shazier). Hopefully he gets OK,” Steelers defensive end Camd Heyward said. “He’s getting a million text messages so I don’t want to keep bothering him. He’ll come around when he needs to.”
There are MULTIPLE reasons someone could need spinal stabilization surgery. Most important for Ryan Shazier now is that there are no complications from surgery. Next few days/weeks will give his docs a better grasp of his prognosis. Anything else is speculation.
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) December 7, 2017
The irony for Shazier is this was the healthiest he’s been in his NFL career. He’d never played in more than 13 games since Pittsburgh drafted him out of Ohio State back in 2014. He even openly talked about how his injury history was holding him back from being one of the best linebackers in the league.
In 12 games this season, Shazier had 89 tackles, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, three interceptions and 10 passes defended.
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