Browns Journalist wants Browns to poach GM Rick Spielman

[mike2mike]

I'm not sure this is even possible.
http://espn.go.com/blog/cleveland//post ... -fix-is-in

But aparently the journalist thinks by offering GM the title "Team President" it would be an upgrade from his GM title and would allow the Browns to sign away Rick Spielman.

Interesting article praising Spielman as a general manager so I thought I'd share it.

Maybe the possibility would be enough for Ziggy+Mark Wilf to promote Spielman to "president", "CEO" or "supreme team zen master" or whatever it takes to prevent another owner from signing away Spielman.

On a somewhat related note, I think I heard assistant GM to Spielman George Paton was blocked from interviewing from the Titans or chose not to or something.

[Mothman]

Thanks for the link. It's interesting to read that kind of outside take on Rick Spielman, even though the author confessed to a certain level of bias due to working with Rick's brother, Chris.

[Pondering Her Percy]

I don't care what anyone says about Spielman but all I know is, he's done a great job since being hired as GM and I've backed him for quite some time now. This article is all "in hopes" that the Browns would do this but I highly doubt it happens.

[jackal]

If he is under contract ..no chance without Viking
Authority to do so. Trying to contact him without
Could result in fines and loss of draft picks for them.

[Demi]

If you're depressed over the Browns' lack of skilled talent on offense, imagine them drafting -- like Spielman has in Minnesota -- Adrian Peterson, Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin, Kyle Rudolph, Cordarrelle Patterson, Stefon Diggs and Teddy Bridgewater.

Average, at best? Did he see the Vikings offense this year? That's what he's aspiring to?

What a fluff job. I wonder if Rick's brother put in a word to get some talk going on a raise?

He's been doing a better job. But I doubt he's the difference between a winning season or a losing one. And if he does leave, I doubt they'd have trouble finding someone comparable to replace him.

[PurpleMustReign]

Average, at best? Did he see the Vikings offense this year? That's what he's aspiring to? [emoji38]

What a fluff job. I wonder if Rick's brother put in a word to get some talk going on a raise?

He's been doing a better job. But I doubt he's the difference between a winning season or a losing one. And if he does leave, I doubt they'd have trouble finding someone comparable to replace him.

The one thing Spielman is really good at is draft day trades. That has helped get the,Vikings some depth at key positions.

Cold is temporary. Purple Pride is forever.

[Mothman]

Average, at best? Did he see the Vikings offense this year? That's what he's aspiring to?

What a fluff job. I wonder if Rick's brother put in a word to get some talk going on a raise?

Apparently, Browns fans dream big.

one thing Spielman is really good at is draft day trades. That has helped get the,Vikings some depth at key positions.

He's certainly adept at accumulating extra picks and moving around in the draft. He's made some good deals!

It's been a pretty rocky road for the team since Spielman was hired and it's difficult to know how much team success or failure to attribute to him. Heck, it's been a pretty rocky road since Childress was fired and removed from the TOA and since Spielman was promoted to GM in 2012. I think he's done a nice job since then in some areas, not so much in others.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Average, at best? Did he see the Vikings offense this year? That's what he's aspiring to?

What a fluff job. I wonder if Rick's brother put in a word to get some talk going on a raise?

He's been doing a better job. But I doubt he's the difference between a winning season or a losing one. And if he does leave, I doubt they'd have trouble finding someone comparable to replace him.

Did you see the Vikings defense this year? We have 1 true hole on defense. O-Line was banged up, completely changed our style of offense since last season. The offense obviously needs some re-tooling but if you look at the players he has drafted since 2012, he's brought in a ton of talent. If anyone doesn't see that then you just don't have a clue

[Demi]

O-Line was banged up, completely changed our style of offense since last season. The offense obviously needs some re-tooling but if you look at the players he has drafted since 2012, he's brought in a ton of talent. If anyone doesn't see that then you just don't have a clue

You could say the same about plenty of other teams. How many all pro players? How many pro bowlers? How many playoff wins since he was named GM?

My comment was specifically about imagining an offense with the players Spielman drafted, which you don't have to, you can just look at the team he drafted those players for. If anyone doesn't see that drafting those players isn't an offense worth imaging, because you can look at the offense of the team those players were drafted for and see the result, then you just don't have a clue.

(I like the "you" instead of "they" as well. )

[Pondering Her Percy]

You could say the same about plenty of other teams. How many all pro players? How many pro bowlers? How many playoff wins since he was named GM?

My comment was specifically about imagining an offense with the players Spielman drafted, which you don't have to, you can just look at the team he drafted those players for. If anyone doesn't see that drafting those players isn't an offense worth imaging, because you can look at the offense of the team those players were drafted for and see the result, then you just don't have a clue.

(I like the "you" instead of "they" as well. )

Oh now we're going to bring up pro bowlers? After everyone on here said how much of a joke it was. We have 1 all pro just like many other teams. And you're going to use the "how many playoff wins crap"? When he took over as GM, this team was a mess in many different areas. Since he has taken over, he has filled MANY huge holes we have had. What part are you missing?

It's real easy for you to say, Spielman should of drafted this guy and drafted that guy but don't sit there and act like you actually had a clue who wouldve been good for us and who wouldnt of.

Good picks:
Harrison Smith
Jarius Wright (given his role)
Rhett Ellison (given his role)
Shariff Floyd
Xavier Rhodes
Gerald Hodges
Anthony Barr
Teddy Bridgewater
Jerick McKinnon
Shamar Stephen
Eric Kendricks
Danielle Hunter
MyCole Pruitt
Stefon Diggs

Jury is out on:
Trae Waynes (looking more and more like a good pick)
TJ Clemmings (could pan out, who knows)

Questionable picks:
Matt Kalil

Bad Picks:
Josh Robinson
Greg Childs
Cordarrelle Patterson
Scott Crichton
David Yankey


I mean thats a pretty good resume. Go look at Carolina, New England, Denver, Arizona, GB, etc. They have had just as many or more bad picks as Spielman did. Our struggle was that it took us so long to find a QB. No matter how you look at it, his drafting has been pretty damn good since taking over. You've been nothing but a Spielman hater since he's been on board so this doesnt really surprise me. The best thing is, if you look at draft classes since 2012, they started off pretty decent and have progressively gotten very good. This years class was extremely good. You have also seen an improved record over the past 3 years which clearly shows that he has done a good job drafting. I think it's pretty clear at this point.

[Husker Vike]

I think Rick has done a good job as well, is he under contract for 2016 though?

[Pondering Her Percy]

I mean we lost to 2 teams that played in the conference championships (Arizona and Denver) and lost both 23-20. We lose to one of the best teams in the NFL (Seattle) 10-9. I mean it just shows how close this team actually is right now and we're one of the youngest teams in the NFL.

If that doesn't show you that Spielman has brought in some legit talent, then I don't know what does.

I don't really get the "he's been doing a better job lately" part. Some of our biggest contributors are guys that he drafted 3-4 years ago. He signed Joseph (the fat bum with a bullet in his leg) and Munnerlyn (the worlds greatest slot midget) two offseasons ago and they've became very good signings.

I think Spielman has been pretty consistent since 2012 and seems to be improving more and more each year. He entered 2012 in complete rebuild mode. Did anyone really expect a 1 year turnaround? Especially with the misfits of coaches that we had? Let's be realistic here. We all knew that this would take some time and everything is starting to trend in the right direction now

[IrishViking]

I mean we lost to 2 teams that played in the conference championships (Arizona and Denver) and lost both 23-20. We lose to one of the best teams in the NFL (Seattle) 10-9. I mean it just shows how close this team actually is right now and we're one of the youngest teams in the NFL.

If that doesn't show you that Spielman has brought in some legit talent, then I don't know what does.

I don't really get the "he's been doing a better job lately" part. Some of our biggest contributors are guys that he drafted 3-4 years ago. He signed Joseph (the fat bum with a bullet in his leg) and Munnerlyn (the worlds greatest slot midget) two offseasons ago and they've became very good signings.

I think Spielman has been pretty consistent since 2012 and seems to be improving more and more each year. He entered 2012 in complete rebuild mode. Did anyone really expect a 1 year turnaround? Especially with the misfits of coaches that we had? Let's be realistic here. We all knew that this would take some time and everything is starting to trend in the right direction now

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we have struggled at QB since 2004 and we still dont have an answer for the slot. My guess is that if the roles were reverse and Spielman had built a top tier offense with a Good QB and still had a struggling defense, a lot more people would be on his bandwagon because he would have addressed the biggest issue we have had for over a decade.

[Mothman]

The Vikes have been in rebuilding mode for 5 years now and Spielman was VP of Player Personnel for 4.5 years prior to that. Childress was reportedly the loudest football voice in the organization while he was with the team but once he was gone, Spielman was basically running the show. No, he didn't get to pick his own coaching staff in 2011 but he was still running the draft, still VP of Player personnel. Those 2011 picks were his picks and he's been rebuilding the roster for 5 years now. Blaming past missteps and failures on "misfits of coaches", as Pondering did above, seems like passing the buck. That coaching staff had a 10 win season in 2012 and let's not pretend talent (at QB and on defense) didn't play a role in what happened in 2013, when they gave up what, 5 leads in the final minute of regulation?

After 5 years, and with a new coaching staff, the Vikes are highly competitive but still more like half of a really good team. Their offense isn't good and depth and talent had something to do with that as well.

I realize it's a big task to rebuild a team but Spielman has made his share of missteps. He's done a good job in some ways, a questionable job in others. I'm not saying he should have been perfect but he makes some choices that strike me as... illogical. That's the best word I can think of to describe them...

[mansquatch]

Half of a good team as compared to what? We won 11 games and were a missed field goal away from playing in the Divisional round of the playoffs. So if we are half of a good team does that mean that all but 8 teams in the NFL are less than half of a good team? Or perhaps we are just lucky and should have only won 7 or 8 games?

For sure we had a few games we got lucky in, but we also had a few we didn't get lucky in. I'd say on average our record was fairly representative of where we were competitively. Apparently views on this vary...