Who is the Browns' General Manager for the 2013 off-season?

[*L-Train*]

@JayGlazer
Panthers and Browns have requested permission to interview Vikings asst GM George Paton for GM. He's scheduled to meet w Panthers next week

‏
@AdamSchefter
Browns have requested permission to interview SF's Tom Gamble and Kansas City's Ray Farmer for their GM job.

have no idea who those guys are but as long as it's not Lombardi i'm happy...

 

[Nw220]

Anyone got any updates on are GM search???

 

[Smooth]

Right now it looks like George Paton (Vikings asst. GM), Tom Gamble (49ers asst. GM) and Ray Farmer (Chiefs pro personnel director) are the only 3 names the Browns have formally requested to interview...

Lombardi's name is obviously still in there, and could be even stronger depending on who the coach is...

John Idzik has been a name linked to the Browns but nothing has come to fruition...

Gamble looks to be headed elsewhere; I would be surprised if he ever interviewed...

Paton or Farmer could be realistic candidates... I'd prefer Paton, who almost got the Rams job last year, over Farmer because Paton has a little bit more experience on the college scouting side... Both are pro personnel guys but I would prefer Paton...

 

[Sly]

Why is Tom Gamble a big name? I don't know much about the 49'ers, but Harbaugh seems to be King there and there's an actual GM in place, What does Gamble do exactly? I hope he's not in charge of the draft, because looking at last year, they might as well not have made any picks.

Not interested in a pro personnel guy that will come in and blow up the cap with FA's. Not really interested in another "cap guy" either. Is there anyone that's been mentioned because of his draft record?

 

[AZ_]

Why is Tom Gamble a big name? I don't know much about the 49'ers, but Harbaugh seems to be King there and there's an actual GM in place, What does Gamble do exactly? I hope he's not in charge of the draft, because looking at last year, they might as well not have made any picks.

Not interested in a pro personnel guy that will come in and blow up the cap with FA's. Not really interested in another "cap guy" either. Is there anyone that's been mentioned because of his draft record?

Gamble gets thrown out the door because he drafted AJ Jenkins? Ehh, a little extreme. Considering he took Aldon Smith the year before.

While working closely with General Manager Trent Baalke, Gamble oversees both the college and pro personnel efforts. In his previous role, Gamble monitored every NFL roster with an emphasis on scouting talent of upcoming pro free agents, while also maintaining continuous depth of personnel on the 49ers roster. In 2010, Gamble had been assigned additional responsibilities in collegiate scouting in order to maximize the use of his extensive experience in talent evaluation.

 

[The Voice]

How do we know who Gamble is responsible for bringing to the 49er's? Unless we have a proven sheet that says he wanted to draft x or wanted to sign x.

 

[RealKingofCleve]

How do we know who Gamble is responsible for bringing to the 49er's? Unless we have a proven sheet that says he wanted to draft x or wanted to sign x.

Thats the case with anyone. You aren't going to get the 49ers actual GM or another successful GM, so you have to take assistants from the best organization.

 

[Jack Brickman]

How do we know who Gamble is responsible for bringing to the 49er's? Unless we have a proven sheet that says he wanted to draft x or wanted to sign x.

If he's responsible for talent evaluation in both free agency and the draft, it's reasonable to assume he's behind a lot of their draft picks and free agent signings. If he was constantly making bad calls and the GM had to bail him out and override him, he wouldn't still be working for the team.

 

[Smooth]

One more name to throw into the derby and one more official interview:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Heard the Browns were keeping an eye on Scott Cohen as well for their ongoing GM search</p>&mdash; Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/status/288728825184018432" data-datetime="2013-01-08T19:28:10+00:00">January 8, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Hearing from league source that Browns have asked for permission to interview Seattle VP football administration John Idzik. Assume GM spot?</p>&mdash; Don Banks (@DonBanks) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonBanks/status/288389593319997440" data-datetime="2013-01-07T21:00:11+00:00">January 7, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So for count, the Browns have officially requested 4 interviews:

Tom Gamble (SF)
John Idzik (SEA)
George Paton (MIN)
Ray Farmer (KC)

And now Scott Cohen is the latest name thrown into the ring... I mentioned him early on as someone to keep an eye on because of his history with Banner dating back to their days in Philly..

So far I'm not liking that their list of candidates has a very little combined experience in college scouting..

And as far as Gamble, this says it much better than I could:

In my 14 years of covering the NFL, I don’t recall getting as many strong comments about a potential GM candidate from high-ranking personnel executives and NFL player agents as I’ve received about Gamble in doing research for this piece. In fact, one NFL GM said my list should start with Gamble for the very fact that he’s about as well-rounded of a candidate as you’ll find.

And when you examine Gamble’s background, you can understand why.

He got started in the NFL at a very young age -- literally right out of college -- with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1988. His father, Harry, was the president of the team at that time. And the younger Gamble was around football growing up. His father was a long-time coach (pro and college) and then moved on to become an NFL executive late in his career.

Like his father, Tom Gamble is a rarity in NFL scouting departments these days: He not only has extensive pro and college scouting experience, he has experience with contract negations and the salary cap, and even has coaching experience (defensive assistant/quality control coach with the New York Jets for two seasons: 1995-1996) on the NFL side. While Gamble was promoted to his current role nearly two years ago, other teams have also been interested in him in recent years (St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders on more than one occasion).

Now in his 25th NFL season, Gamble has worked for five teams over that time period and has touched just about every possible aspect on the personnel side. He has helped build 10 playoff teams (four with the Eagles, five with the Indianapolis Colts, and one with the 49ers—and very likely another one this season).

Before taking a job with the 49ers back in 2005, Gamble worked for seven seasons as a college scout under former Colts GM Bill Polian, who is widely recognized as one of the best personnel evaluators in NFL history.

“He’s got a complete grounding in the game. He grew up in the game,” Polian explained to me recently about Gamble. “This is exceedingly important when you consider there are a lot of issues that you have to deal with when becoming a general manager that will come up with a team. You’re at a big disadvantage if you don’t have this experience in dealing with everything. That’s why non-football people have a harder time succeeding. Because Tom has so much experience and grew up around the game with his dad, he’s going to be more prepared than most. That’s a huge advantage.”

And it’s that extensive experience which should help Gamble land a GM job for next season.​

Oh and the Cardinals just announced Steve Keim as their GM... It was expected but he was one of the better candidates on the market...

 

[Sly]

Cohen is the Jets assistant GM?

 

[Smooth]

Cohen is the Jets assistant GM?

Yes, Cohen has been the assistant GM to Tannebaum since '08..

Prior to that he was the pro personnel director in Philly (for Heckert funny enough) from '01-'08...

Before that he was with Jacksonville for a coupe years assisting in pro personnel...

His break in the NFL was with Washington, where he was with the for 7 years working his way up the ladder holding various roles...

So again, he knows Banner back from his several years in Philly...

 

[MDLT]

Have the Browns actually interviewed any GMs yet? Seems like they aren't that concerned about hiring one - which is concerning, giving that some of these guys are gonna be gone fast.......and Lombardi is still there (and always will be obviously).

I just don't get their approach.

 

[Smooth]

Have the Browns actually interviewed any GMs yet? Seems like they aren't that concerned about hiring one - which is concerning, giving that some of these guys are gonna be gone fast.......and Lombardi is still there (and always will be obviously).

I just don't get their approach.

They haven't interviewed any GMs yet, just requested permission to for the four candidates I listed above..

Like you mentioned though, Banner will always have Lombardi in his back pocket if need be...

But their approach is to first find a head coach and get their GM afterwards..

I don't necessarily agree with it but it's the path they've chosen...

 

[The Oi]

Just out of curiosity...

Is there an argument out there FOR Lombardi to be hired?

All I've seen is negative.

 

[MDLT]

Just out of curiosity...

Is there an argument out there FOR Lombardi to be hired?

All I've seen is negative.

I really can't think of one, though maybe someone else on here can provide something. He's widely known to be a.) not very good at evaluating talent and b.) difficult to work with. Not a good sign if you are a GM.