Bob Quinn is the newest member of the Cleveland Browns front office. The Browns hired Quinn as a senior consultant for GM Andrew Berry.
Quinn spent the last five years as the general manager of the Detroit Lions before being fired after another humiliating loss in November of 2020. I covered every minute of his tenure in Detroit in my capacity with Lions Wire and ESPN Radio in Grand Rapids. I was at his introductory press conference in 2016, just as I was for John Dorsey in Cleveland in December of 2017. As such, I have a pretty strong opinion and experience with Quinn.
I’ll be blunt: I don’t get it for Cleveland. The Browns already have an ex-GM as a sounding board for Berry in Ryan Grigson. That’s the role Berry laid out for Quinn in talking about the hire in his press conference. Unless Grigson is going away, Quinn seems superfluous.
That’s not to say Quinn doesn’t add some value. Despite his ultimate failure in Detroit, the 45-year-old did have some successes. He proved quite capable of identifying offensive line talent. He’s a hyper-organized man, one savvy with the salary cap and pro-level scouting. Quinn isn’t afraid to make tough decisions, even if they prove both unpopular and eventually the wrong ones. Stripped away from his handpicked head coach, Matt Patricia, Quinn’s time in Detroit looks considerably better.
It’s obviously a career reclamation project from Quinn’s standpoint. He joins a front office that is the apple of the NFL eye with Berry, Paul DePodesta, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Grigson and others. Quinn jumps in after the key decisions for this year are already completed, meaning he’ll share in credit for being on the staff but shoulder no real blame if something goes awry. He’s positioning himself for another GM job down the line and cherry-picked a great tree to splice upon. Quinn’s a smart guy, after all…
Some have worried about Quinn having eyes at usurping Berry. That’s not Quinn, his style or his mentality. It’s also something Berry is smart enough to guard against; Quinn wouldn’t be in Cleveland if Berry — or anyone else in the Browns organization — didn’t trust his intentions or his football work.
This move is a much bigger deal in Detroit for fans and the media. Quinn did not leave on good terms and built one of the most boring, unlikable football teams possible. Ironically, he’s now filling the same role in Cleveland that ex-Browns GM John Dorsey serves for the Lions. Here’s hoping the Browns coax out the positives in Quinn and he helps build the team even stronger. Just don’t ask anyone who has dealt with Quinn in his Lions tenure to think this is a good idea for Cleveland. That wound is still festering.