The Cleveland Browns were one of the many teams to fire their head coach after the season ended and they did it in classic franchise fashion, dismissing Rob Chudzinski on the Sunday night before Black Monday and now the team could hire Josh McDaniels and that could lead to some interesting options, including possibly Tim Tebow as a free agent or a trade for Patriots backup Ryan Mallett.
The Browns went just 4-12 last season and they slumped to the finish after starting 4-5 on the year and over the last stretch of seven losses in a row, the team gave up over 25 points five times and they did not look good on offense either. According to ESPN.com, the Browns are interviewing McDaniels along with Todd Bowles and others and McDaniels could be an interesting pick, as he is the offensive coordinator of the Patriots and is of course a Belichick disciple. The report says that the Browns will come to New England and other names on the list includes Jim Schwartz, Dan Quinn from the Seahawks and Adam Gase from the Broncos.
Chud did not spend a calendar year as the head coach and now the team basically needs to start over for the fifth time in seven seasons and McDaniels could be the pick. He was the one who drafted Tebow in Denver and also helped bring him to New England for a short time and while he is going to work for ESPN on the SEC Network, reports have Tebow saying that he plans on continuing his pursuit for an NFL career and perhaps Cleveland could be a fit. Tebow never got a full chance in New York and the Patriots obviously weren't going to play him with Tom Brady around.
A report from last year is interesting now as well, as according to ESPN.com, the Browns were interested in acquiring Ryan Mallett from the Patriots and if McDaniels is hired, that could come up again. The original report said that it could be a smart move to get a talented prospect in ro compete with Weeden and after working with him for some time, McDaniels could pull the trigger. The Browns may also be in the mix for Johnny Manziel by the time the draft rolls around.
McDaniels and the Browns may not want to take the chance of wasting a number one pick on a quarterback after Brandon Weeden has not worked out and making a trade for Mallett could help the team get a quality quarterback with potential for less than a first round pick, allowing them to take a top player with the pick, including someone like Mike Evans or Jake Matthews. The Browns have a number of picks in the upcoming draft after making moves last season and trading away Trent Richardson to the Colts and that could make them players heading into the event for 2014.
