Browns ready to turn the corner?
Owner Lerner talks of future, busy offseason
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sportswriter
<!-- begin body-content -->ORLANDO, FLA. - The Browns finished the 2005 season with a win and turmoil.
Browns President John Collins resigned the day after a season-ending win over the Baltimore Ravens gave the Browns a 6-10 record.
Since then, General Manager Phil Savage has been given the blessing of owner Randy Lerner to build the team the way that he sees fit. Savage attacked free agency aggressively, signing center LeCharles Bentley, tackle Kevin Shaffer, receiver Joe Jurevicius, punter Dave Zastudil, nose tackle Ted Washington and linebacker Willie McGinest.
Sunday, a day before the NFL's annual spring meetings were set to begin, Lerner sat down with the Beacon Journal to discuss the state of his team. Among his points: He wants Savage to retire with the Browns; he thinks that Savage and coach Romeo Crennel have set the table for future success; and his theme for 2006 is ``continuity.''
Q: What did the free-agent activity mean to the team and to the fans?
A: It meant that Phil and Romeo are hitting their stride. And because of that and because Phil and (salary cap coordinator) Trip MacCracken created a lot of (cap) room, I think they were able to execute Year 2 of the plan, which was to stay aggressive on free agency so that years three on give them a platform to grow and develop through the draft.
Q: Did the team need to make a splash like that?
A: Not at all. It was purely circumstance. At no point was there a discussion about the impact on anybody other than how we do it on the field. Now, it was a good splash...
Q: Was the fact that some of the players had Cleveland connections important to you?
A: Yeah. That was very important to me. I think one of the intangibles that you can never count on is loyalty to your hometown.
Q: Would you tell Savage to go and get Cleveland guys then?
A: I would never tell him to go and do anything. Never have, never will. But to the extent that can happen, it's found value. And I think Phil sees that as well.
Q: Does quarterback Charlie Frye fit that mold, as well?
A: In spades. I see in Charlie Frye exactly those characteristics, and I see a lot more. I think Charlie Frye, if the dice roll right, could just have a great career. I think that in his heart of hearts he is singularly focused on delivering for the Browns.
Q: Is the team much better now than it was March 1?
A: Yeah. I think we can leverage those player acquisitions with the draft and make us a better team in '06. It gives Phil the ability to have a more tactical focus and less strategic focus, and that's fantastic. In other words, strategy could say we want to improve defense. But tactical says that if Ted Washington is in the mix, that gives you an opportunity to concentrate on an edge rusher, maybe.
Q: Now, it's my job to ask cynical or skeptical questions.
A: Go for it.
Q: One view is that a left tackle left, a left tackle was signed. A wide receiver left, a wide receiver was signed. A center was added. And two guys on defense were added who are aging. Is that significant improvement?
A: I think it's significant improvement within the context of the way free agency works and your ability to have free agency provide the opportunity to be more tactical. If you think over the long haul you're going to use free agency only, you have to take a cynical eye to it and ask what are you doing? But that's not what Phil and Romeo are doing. I don't think that they think they've solved their puzzle. What they did is get some pieces that fit pretty well so they can get other pieces.
Q: The Orlando Sentinel this morning stated that Forbes listed the value of the franchise as $892 million. They had a comment for each team and with the Browns they wrote: ``Almost $25 million per win since the team returned.'' These are some of the kinds of things that people say to me. How long will it take? When will they win? What is going on? Do you sense any disconnect with the fans?
A: No. Not at all. I feel there's a bigger disconnect, if I can, with the perception that is created. What fans understand, what supporters understand is this: The team returned in '99 in a pretty hurried state with a very, very distinct management team that we can name. None of that leadership is in place at the Cleveland Browns, and in fact, we have gone through an interim generation of leadership and are now in our third leadership.
You don't have the same management team in the front office. You don't have the same players on the field. You don't have the same draft picks. We cut the cord. We took our hits.
Then we began a brand new era with three executives starting at the beginning of '05. Of the three executives, two are still here and one is gone. During that period those three executives, particularly the two still here, began a new era of Cleveland football. So the idea of saying, for example, the Cleveland Browns are a constant period of time and not paying attention to whether any good-faith efforts have been made to try and build a winner for Cleveland is misguided.
If you (view) the Cleveland Browns from Day 1, of course people will say, `What are they doing?' With the advent of Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel, albeit with some awkward stumbles along the way -- I raise my hand and I'm responsible -- and with the deep commitment to continuity and sticking with a style that can bring us a winner, I think there is reason to believe that the core support base sees that and there is not a disconnect.
Q: What is your role now that John Collins has left?
A: My role is to be basically a manager of managers. We took the president's title and essentially put it on the shelf for now. There is no club president, and I am not the club president. It is my opinion that I am best served being a person that explains the core philosophy of the Cleveland Browns, the commitment to the local fabric that we represent and how to execute a business plan consistent with that core philosophy. In terms of my role that a traditional club president would have for football, I think I fill that role, which is to be a support system and to be a kind of source of Cleveland tradition, a source of loyalty to our colors that sometimes when you have guys picking players or coaching that may not have been born or raised in Cleveland.
Q: What is the core philosophy of the Browns?
A: To make them a reflection of Cleveland. To remember that we have a wonderful tradition. And to not allow ourselves to either look backward in an unproductive way by over-relying on that great tradition, but also to not allow any sort of large-culture pessimism to set in.
Q: How do you balance business vs. football?
A: The Cleveland Browns are simply about football. And the business operations and activities should be quiet and behind the scenes. What should be out front is what we do on the field and what we do in preparing on the field.
Q: What happened at the end of the year with Collins and Savage? Did it have to come to the point it did? Was it necessary? From the outside looking in, it looked like a Phil vs. John thing, and Phil won the power struggle. Was that inevitable?
A: I don't think that purely that's what happened. I don't know any business that doesn't have struggles. In this particular business, when the mission is so central to everything you do, things shake out. And when the media gets involved, and when the Internet and the Web blogs and all that get involved, I think that you can have some pretty violent swings. And I think that what happened at the end of the year is all mixed in those realities. It's a very, very unforgiving business.
Q: So was it inevitable at some point in time?
A: I don't know. I don't know the answer.
Q: Are you satisfied with the way it all shook out?
A: Yes.
Q: And earlier you stressed the long-term with Phil?
A: Absolutely. I hope Phil ends his career with the Browns. And Phil knows that. I've told it to him any number of times, and I encourage you to ask him.
Q: A year ago we talked and I asked if you understood fans having a wait-and-see approach, and you said that was entirely appropriate given the change and with Phil and Romeo being new. At this point, how should fans be looking at things?
A: I don't know the right answer to that. Any sports team that people love passionately is going to get yelled at when they're not winning, and they're going to get loved and praised when they are winning. And both will be more than they deserve. And it comes with the territory.
Q: What is your theme for 2006?
A: Continuity.
Q: Do you have expectations on winning?
A: I'm not talking about that. You have to talk to the GM and the head coach.
Q: Let me ask it this way: For any NFL team to improve their win total by one-third is a lot.
A: Yeah. And I think one of the uncelebrated things about the Cleveland Browns is that with a rookie coach and a rookie GM we won six games. That's something to be proud of and something nobody talks about.
Q: If you improve your wins by one-third this year...
A: I think that's a big deal.
Q: But that would be 8-8 and people would scream.
A: Maybe.
