Browns Still Interested In Jadeveon Clowney
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Following reports from yesterday that Jadeveon Clowney turned down an offer from the Browns, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports that the Browns are still interested in the free agent pass rusher.
We learned last night that Clowney had rejected Cleveland’s contract, even though it was the most lucrative deal he’s been offered. Cabot notes that the 27-year-old is still “weighing his options.”
Clowney’s contract demands have dropped throughout the offseason. While the former first-overall pick was previously seeking a deal that’d pay him $20MM per year, those demands have been reduced to the $17MM to $18MM range. It’s uncertain how much money Cleveland offered the defensive end.
While Cleveland could certainly use some talent, they’re not in desperate need for a pass rusher. After all, they have former first-overall pick Myles Garrett as well as former Pro Bowler Olivier Vernon. Still, as Cabot points out, Browns general manager Andrew Berry isn’t afraid of making a big splash.
“We’re actively always looking, whether it’s draft, free agency, trades, waiver wire, you name it, to add players to our roster,” Berry previously said. “Obviously Jadeveon, he’s a good football player. But for us, it really goes back to something I mentioned maybe a few months ago. Rest assured, across all opportunities to acquire players, we’re going to be aggressive in adding talent to the roster.”
Jadeveon Clowney Turns Down Browns
Still a free agent after nearly 2 1/2 months, Jadeveon Clowney may have scratched one destination off his list. The high-profile pass rusher turned down an offer from the Browns, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter said during a radio interview with ESPN Cleveland (Twitter link).
The Browns have offered Clowney the most money thus far, Schefter adds. While the Clowney-to-Cleveland door may not be fully closed, it does appear the former No. 1 overall pick has doubts about such a scenario.
As this lengthy process has unfolded, Clowney has received interest from the Browns, Titans and Seahawks. Earlier on, however, Clowney reportedly expressed interest in joining the Giants or Jets. Neither New York team, despite apparent edge defender needs, has strongly reciprocated such interest.
Details about Cleveland’s proposal are not known, but Clowney has set his price high. He lowered it earlier in free agency, but his target — even on a one-year deal — likely remains substantial.
Cleveland still houses Olivier Vernon opposite Myles Garrett. Vernon is attached to a $15.25MM salary in the final year of his Giants-constructed contract. The Browns shopped Vernon earlier this offseason, but the way it’s looking now, the former Dolphins and Giants defensive end will have a good chance of finishing out his five-year deal this season.
NFL Draft Signings: 5/22/20
Here are Friday’s draft pick agreements:
- The Browns continue check off their draft list. After agreeing to terms with two picks earlier this week, the Browns signed fifth-round selection Nick Harris. A center out of Washington, Harris profiles as depth behind J.C. Tretter. However, he could also represent a candidate for upward mobility at guard. Prior to becoming the Huskies’ starting center in 2018, Harris started 17 games at guard during his freshman and sophomore years. Cleveland employs Joel Bitonio at left guard but does not feature as much certainty on the right side.
Browns Notes: Landry, Walls
After undergoing hip surgery in February, Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry has pronounced himself “a little bit ahead of schedule,” according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Landry said he should be ready to return to field action at some point in August. At the moment, obviously, it’s unclear when/if training camp will officially get underway, but Landry figures to be ready during the preseason. Fresh off a campaign in which he posted 83 receptions for 1,174 yards and six touchdowns, Landry had hoped to avoid surgery in favor of a rest-and-rehab schedule, but ultimately went under the knife.
- Former Packers area scout Charles Walls has joined the Browns‘ front office, reports Rob Demosky of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Walls will receive a promotion in Cleveland and will hold the title of national scout, per Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link). Walls, who had been with Green Bay since the 2013 season, had covered the Southeast region for the Packers.
NFL Draft Signings: 5/20/20
We’ll keep track of today’s late-round signings here:
- The Browns signed fourth-round tight end Harrison Bryant and sixth-round wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). They were the Browns’ final two selections in the draft, but they’re the first picks to sign in Cleveland. Peoples-Jones was one of the country’s hottest WR recruits coming out of high school and he selected Michigan over roughly 30 other schools. However, he failed to top 650 yards in any of his three seasons with the Wolverines. On the plus side, he tallied 14 touchdowns between 2018 and 2019 and the potential is still there.
Longest-Tenured GMs In The NFL
When we ran down the longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL, we found that less than half of the league’s current coaches have been in their positions for more than three years. That’s not quite the case with general managers, but there have been plenty of changes in recent years.
A handful of general managers have gotten to take their coats off and stay for a long while. Among coaches, Bill Belichick had joined his team prior to 2003. Here, you’ll see that five GMs have been with their teams since before ’03 (Belichick, of course, is also on this list). Two of those five – Jerry Jones and Mike Brown – are outliers, since they’re team owners and serve as de facto GMs. But the Patriots, Steelers, and Saints, have all had the same general managers making their roster decisions for well over a decade.
Here’s the complete list of the NFL’s longest-tenured GMs, along with the date they took over the job:
- Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys): April 18, 1989[1]
- Mike Brown (Cincinnati Bengals): August 5, 1991[2]
- Bill Belichick (New England Patriots): January 27, 2000[3]
- Kevin Colbert (Pittsburgh Steelers): February 18, 2000[4]
- Mickey Loomis (New Orleans Saints): May 14, 2002
- Rick Spielman (Minnesota Vikings): May 30, 2006[5]
- Thomas Dimitroff (Atlanta Falcons): January 13, 2008
- John Schneider (Seattle Seahawks): January 19, 2010[6]
- Howie Roseman (Philadelphia Eagles): January 29, 2010
- John Elway (Denver Broncos): January 5, 2011[7]
- Les Snead (St. Louis Rams): February 10, 2012
- David Caldwell (Jacksonville Jaguars): January 8, 2013
- Steve Keim (Arizona Cardinals): January 8, 2013
- Tom Telesco (San Diego Chargers): January 9, 2013
- Jason Licht (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 21, 2014
- Ryan Pace (Chicago Bears): January 8, 2015
- Chris Grier (Miami Dolphins): January 4, 2016
- Bob Quinn (Detroit Lions): January 8, 2016
- Jon Robinson (Tennessee Titans): January 14, 2016
- John Lynch (San Francisco 49ers): January 29, 2017
- Chris Ballard (Indianapolis Colts): January 30, 2017
- Brandon Beane (Buffalo Bills): May 9, 2017
- Brett Veach (Kansas City Chiefs): July 11, 2017
- Marty Hurney (Carolina Panthers): July 19, 2017
- Dave Gettleman (New York Giants): December 28, 2017
- Brian Gutekunst (Green Bay Packers): January 7, 2018
- Mike Mayock (Oakland Raiders): December 31, 2018
- Joe Douglas (New York Jets): June 7, 2019
- Eric DeCosta (Baltimore Ravens): January 7, 2019[8]
- Ron Rivera (Washington Redskins): January 1, 2020[9]
- Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns): January 27, 2020
- Bill O’Brien (Houston Texans): January 28, 2020
Footnotes:
- Jones has been the Cowboys’ de facto general manager since former GM Tex Schramm resigned in April 1989.
- Brown has been the Bengals’ de facto GM since taking over as the team’s owner in August 1991.
- Belichick has been the Patriots’ de facto GM since shortly after being hired as the team’s head coach in January 2000.
- Colbert was initially hired as the team’s director of football operations and received the newly-created general manager title in 2011.
- Spielman was initially hired as the team’s VP of player personnel and received the GM title in 2012.
- While Schneider holds the title of GM, head coach Pete Carroll has the final say on roster moves for the Seahawks.
- Elway was initially hired as the team’s executive VP of football operations and received the GM title in 2014.
- In 2018, the Ravens announced that DeCosta would replace Ozzie Newsome as GM for Ozzie Newsome after the conclusion of the season. The Ravens’ ’18 season ended with their Wild Card loss to the Chargers on 1/6/19.
- Technically, the Redskins do not have a GM, as of this writing. Rivera is, effectively, their GM, working in tandem with Vice President of Player Personnel Kyle Smith. Smith may receive the GM title in the near future.
Longest-Tenured Head Coaches In The NFL
Things move fast in today’s NFL and the old adage of “coaches are hired to be fired” has seemingly never been more true. For the most part, teams change their coaches like they change their underwear. 
A head coach can take his team to the Super Bowl, or win the Super Bowl, or win multiple Super Bowls, but they’re never immune to scrutiny. Just ask Tom Coughlin, who captured his second ring with the Giants after the 2011 season, only to receive his pink slip after the 2015 campaign.
There are also exceptions. Just look at Bill Belichick, who just wrapped up his 20th season at the helm in New England. You’ll also see a few others on this list, but, for the most part, most of today’s NFL head coaches are relatively new to their respective clubs. And, history dictates that many of them will be elsewhere when we check in on this list in 2022.
Over one-third (12) of the NFL’s head coaches have coached no more than one season with their respective teams. Meanwhile, less than half (15) have been with their current clubs for more than three years. It seems like just yesterday that the Cardinals hired Kliff Kingsbury, right? It sort of was – Kingsbury signed on with the Cardinals in January of 2019. Today, he’s practically a veteran.
Here’s the list of the current head coaches in the NFL, ordered by tenure, along with their respective start dates:
- Bill Belichick (New England Patriots): January 27, 2000
- Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints): January 18, 2006
- Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers): January 27, 2007
- John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens): January 19, 2008
- Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks): January 9, 2010
- Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs): January 4, 2013
- Bill O’Brien (Houston Texans): January 2, 2014
- Mike Zimmer (Minnesota Vikings): January 15, 2014
- Dan Quinn (Atlanta Falcons): February 2, 2015
- Doug Pederson (Philadelphia Eagles): January 18, 2016
- Sean McDermott (Buffalo Bills): January 11, 2017
- Doug Marrone (Jacksonville Jaguars): December 19, 2016 (interim; permanent since 2017)
- Anthony Lynn (Los Angeles Chargers): January 12, 2017
- Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams): January 12, 2017
- Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers): February 6, 2017
- Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears): January 7, 2018
- Matt Patricia (Detroit Lions): February 5, 2018
- Frank Reich (Indianapolis Colts): February 11, 2018
- Jon Gruden (Las Vegas Raiders): January 6, 2018
- Mike Vrabel (Tennessee Titans): January 20, 2018
- Kliff Kingsbury (Arizona Cardinals): January 8, 2019
- Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals): February 4, 2019
- Vic Fangio (Denver Broncos): January 10, 2019
- Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers): January 8, 2019
- Brian Flores (Miami Dolphins): February 4, 2019
- Adam Gase (New York Jets): January 11, 2019
- Bruce Arians (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 8, 2019
- Ron Rivera (Washington Redskins): January 1, 2020
- Matt Rhule (Carolina Panthers): January 7, 2020
- Mike McCarthy (Dallas Cowboys): January 7, 2020
- Joe Judge (New York Giants): January 8, 2020
- Kevin Stefanski (Cleveland Browns): January 13, 2020
Browns Add Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Ryan Grigson To Front Office
The Browns have hired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their new vice president of football operations, as ESPN’s Seth Walder was among the first to report (via Twitter). Adofo-Mensah previously served as the director of football research and development with the 49ers, and as Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal writes, he will essentially serve as assistant GM to Andrew Berry.
Adofo-Mensah, a Princeton graduate, adds to the Ivy League talent in the Cleveland front office (Berry is a Harvard grad). Adofo-Mensah spent seven years in the San Francisco organization, and according to his bio, he “led the 49ers’ efforts to develop and implement advanced quantitative methods for game strategy and personnel evaluation” (h/t Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com). He will presumably continue to expand his personnel resume with Cleveland.
In addition to the Adofo-Mensah hiring, the Browns have also hired Ryan Grigson on a full-time basis, per Cabot. The club brought on the former Colts GM in an advisory and consulting role back in February, and it sounded at the time as if the hire would become permanent after the draft. That has now happened, though Grigson’s formal title remains uncertain. He and Berry have a long-standing professional relationship and hold each other in high regard.
One year after being hyped virtually non-stop as a Super Bowl contender, the Browns have mostly flown under the radar this offseason. Though they made several major signings in free agency, and though Berry’s first draft was widely considered to be a successful one, Cleveland is not being talked about to nearly the same degree as it was in 2019. And that probably suits the team just fine. After shoring up the O-line and adding another weapon for Baker Mayfield in tight end Austin Hooper, the Browns may realize their potential just one season after they were supposed to. If Mayfield can return to the form he showed in his rookie campaign, things could get interesting in the AFC North.
Seahawks, Browns Discussed Russell Wilson Trade In 2018
In 2018, the Browns were armed with a very rare assortment of premium draft capital: the No. 1 and No. 4 overall picks. Ultimately, of course, they used those picks on quarterback Baker Mayfield and cornerback Denzel Ward, but they were reportedly involved in trade discussions that would have sent at least one of those selections to the Seahawks in exchange for superstar quarterback Russell Wilson.
In a recent appearance on the PFTOT podcast, Chris Simms says that Cleveland and Seattle discussed a trade wherein the Seahawks would have acquired the No. 1 overall pick from the Browns while sending their Super Bowl champion signal-caller to Ohio (story via Mike Florio of PFT). And according to Florio’s source, the discussion did indeed happen, though the source couched it as being more of a conceptual conversation.
These sorts of discussions certainly happen all the time, and they never really get anywhere because the teams involved have no real intention of trading their assets but simply want to exercise due diligence in case their prospective trading partner is willing to make an offer that’s impossible to turn down. But the fact that the Seahawks even considered trading Wilson is notable, especially given that he was only 29 at the time and had already established himself as one of the best QBs in the game.
As Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times writes, the ‘Hawks would not have traded Wilson for just the No. 1 pick; they would have demanded the No. 4 selection as well. Even that, however, seems like a small price to pay for a player of Wilson’s caliber, and one would think that the Browns would have pounced on the opportunity if it had truly presented itself.
At the time, Wilson and the Seahawks were in the midst of contract discussions that would culminate with Wilson becoming the highest-paid player in NFL history. And he has more than lived up to that deal thus far, posting back-to-back MVP-worthy seasons with an average QB rating of 108.6 and an average triple-slash of 3,779/33/6. He has added 718 rushing yards and three rushing scores for good measure, and he has yet to miss a game in his career.
Nonetheless, Florio’s sources do say that Wilson will be traded at some point in the relatively near future. By Wilson’s own admission, the inclusion of a no-trade clause in his current contract was instrumental in getting the deal done — perhaps because of the Cleveland discussions — but he could always waive it if he feels the time is right. Though a trade in the next several seasons would not be feasible because of the dead money charges it would leave on Seattle’s books, something could happen by 2022.
Indeed, Condotta notes that the Seahawks likely would have selected Patrick Mahomes if he had fallen to them in the 2017 draft, and GM John Schneider was also poking around Josh Allen the following offseason. In a couple of years, he may pull the trigger on a collegiate signal-caller and send Wilson elsewhere, difficult though that may be to fathom.
Latest On Jason Peters’ Market
Connected to a possible return to the Eagles for what would be a 12th season in Philadelphia, Jason Peters remains a free agent. And he either is attempting to convince teams he can be an option for longer than one season or he believes he will legitimately play into his 40s.
The decorated left tackle has said that he feels great and views playing past 40 as realistic, according to NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo (video link). While the Eagles and Peters appear to be in a holding pattern for now, Garafolo adds other teams have engaged in discussions with the 38-year-old blocker.
Teams like the Broncos and Chargers make sense for a stopgap left tackle. Neither drafted one, and the Bolts now have a new quarterback investment — in No. 6 overall pick Justin Herbert — and a glaring vacancy at left tackle after trading Russell Okung to the Panthers for Trai Turner. The Broncos, Bolts, Browns and Jets could be suitors, per James Palmer of NFL.com, but nothing concrete has emerged on Peters beyond a potential Eagles return. The Browns and Jets drafted tackles in Round 1, and each is expected to start in Week 1.
Denver did not pick up Garett Bolles‘ fifth-year option but was also not in the mix for Trent Williams, Palmer adds. As of now, the Broncos’ plan is for Bolles and swing man Elijah Wilkinson — who started at right tackle for most of 2019 due to Ja’Wuan James‘ injury issues — to battle for the left tackle spot. The Broncos carry just more than $17MM in cap space; the Chargers hold $22MM-plus. Both teams were active in March, adding several new starters, and the Broncos loaded up on offensive playmakers in the draft. Each AFC West squad, though, has a big question at left tackle.
As for Peters’ plans of playing past 40, that would certainly be a rare occurrence for his position. Hall of Fame right tackle Jackie Slater and Ray Brown, who primarily played guard in his 20-year career, are the only tackles in NFL history to suit up for age-40 seasons. Andrew Whitworth, however, just re-signed a multiyear deal with the Rams. He will turn 39 later this year.