While most indications point toward Ravens director of pro personnel George Kokinis being a lock to become the next Browns general manager, it may not be the slam dunk once thought.

Mary Kay Cabot writes that former Denver Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist as a candidate.  He may be interviewed.  Sundquist was the fall guy a year ago for Denver's disappointing 2007 season.  He lost a power struggle with then head coach Mike Shanahan, who is now also unemployed.  Sundquist has had mixed results with the draft and in free agency.

Also identified in the article is Chris Polian, the son of Indianapolis Colts team president Bill Polian.  If Chris can identify talent like his father, it would be a coup for the Browns.

The Browns will not be run next year by Scott Pioli or Tom Heckert, per Adam Schefter of the NFL Network. Pioli and Mangini likely don't mesh after that "Spygate" business, and Heckert was turned off because he had no say in the hiring process of the coach.

Perhaps a quiet deal could already be in place with Kokinis, which would not be surprising.  Maybe he's just waiting out the Ravens' season.  Right now, though, the effect of hiring a coach first has been seen.  Heckert and Pioli are savvy front office guys who knew that this was a trap job for a general manager, and mostly just a figure-head for Mangini's decision making.  If Kokinis doesn't take this job, I'd be stunned.  If somehow Kokinis decides to stay in Baltimore, a fallback is current Browns pro personnel director T.J. McCreight.

Also see Patrick McManamon: What about James Harris for Browns GM?

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 9:27 am and is filed under Cleveland Browns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.