Tag: Ray Farmer

Mike McDaniel confirmed Johnny Manziel watched zero minutes of film with Browns

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel confirms Johnny Manziel watched zero game film while in the NFL.

In an interview with “The Pivot” podcast last month, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel confirmed that Johnny Manziel watched zero minutes and zero seconds of game film during his time with the Cleveland Browns. Manziel admitted to watching zero film in the Netflix documentary “Untold.” However, it’s still hard to take Manziel’s word as truth. It’s refreshing to hear confirmation from the former Browns wide receiver coach.

Mike McDaniel spent one season with the Cleveland Browns in 2014, which was Kyle Shanahan’s one year as the team’s offensive coordinator. McDaniel’s time in Cleveland is best remembered by a trick play where Shanahan and McDaniel pretended to yell at Manziel to catch the defense off guard. In typical Browns fashion, the play worked, but a presnap penalty would wipe away the gain.

McDaniel said the animosity between the coaching staff and front office over the selection of Manziel started to boil over during the season. The response from the coaching staff to Manziel’s lack of preparation and disrespectful nature was to point fingers at the front office. GM Ray Farmer and the team brass infamously ignored multiple people, including a consulting firm they hired to assess the 2014 quarterback class when selecting Manziel.

During a rocky start to the season, in which blame is being dished out like it’s on the menu at the Marble Room, it’s essential to look at how far the organization has come. While the team has experienced pitfalls and struggles this season, it’s important to remember just how horrific things can get in Berea without adult supervision.

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Browns 53-man roster Andrew Berry era

Of the Browns initial 53-man roster, which front-office boss brought in who as we look at the roster turnover in the Andrew Berry era in Cleveland:

The much anticipated 2021 NFL season is almost upon us. There are so many things for Cleveland Browns fans to look forward to while some still hold a bit of dread that the “other shoe” will drop.

General manager Andrew Berry has done his best to make sure the team’s roster is set up for success even if a major injury hits. With depth across the board, the Browns initial 53-man roster looks ready to contend even with normal NFL attrition due to injury.

Berry has been given a lot of credit for the moves he has made in his first two seasons at the helm of the front office, for good reason. As we covered earlier this week, his drafting has mostly gone well so far. His free-agent work has been aggressive, as he promised, but hasn’t blown the future salary-cap space needed to sign some of the young guys.

While Cleveland’s roster has evolved over Berry’s first two offseasons with the team, he doesn’t get total credit for bringing in all of the players. His history with the Browns, however, makes breaking down the roster interesting as Berry was brought in under Sashi Brown and was kept under John Dorsey. His one year away in Philadelphia is the only time in the past five years he wasn’t involved with the Browns front office.

So let us take a look at the team’s initial 53-man roster, prior to Jacob Phillips going on injured reserve, and just how much of the roster Berry has remade in just two seasons:

Former Browns GM Ray Farmer talks understanding other teams plans

Former Cleveland Browns GM Ray Farmer spoke at the NFL Combine Seminar sharing how he tried to understand other teams plans.

The Cleveland Browns have gone through a number of front offices over the past couple of decades. Each one has it’s own fair share of negatives connected to it except the one currently in charge.

One of the many that have held control of a front office in Cleveland is Ray Farmer. Farmer was known as a very intelligent scout whose playing career, cut short by injury, could only benefit him. Coming from years with the Kansas City Chiefs front office, Farmer was hired as an assistant general manager in Cleveland in 2013 and promoted to the top job in 2014.

Like most in Browns recent history, Farmer’s tenure was brief but notable in a negative way. Fired after two seasons, Farmer is most noted for being suspended for texting coaches during games.

Of note in his player moves was the signing of Dwayne Bowe to a big contract and failing to address the wide receiver position in the draft. His biggest whiffs, however, was the drafting of Justin Gilbert (to satisfy his coach) and Johnny Manziel (to satisfy his owner) in what was a disastrous first round in 2014.

Also of note is Kyle Shanahan’s 32-point presentation to then head coach Mike Pettine to get out of his contract as the team’s offensive coordinator during Farmer’s time in charge. Shanahan has since noted that Farmer’s text gaff was one of those 32 points.

While Farmer’s time in Cleveland was full of almost all negatives, there were some positives including the drafting of Joel Bitonio and Christian Kirksey.

Farmer is still looked at as a good scout, hired last season as a scouting consultant with the Rams and being interviewed for a similar role with the Jaguars this year.

Farmer spoke at the NFL Combine Seminar discussing how he had an idea of what other teams were planning by watching every detail he could:

 

Farmer’s executive career has stalled out after his failed run with the Browns. That isn’t exclusive to Farmer as very few GMs or head coaches that have failed in Cleveland have worked their way back up to the top position somewhere else.

It will be interesting if he is able to find his way back or if he stays consulting and speaking instead. Either way, Ray Farmer’s time in Cleveland is memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Ray Farmer could move to full-time role to help replace Brad Holmes, Ray Agnew in Rams front office

The Rams lost two key front office members this offseason in Ray Agnew and Brad Holmes.

The Los Angeles Rams coaching staff and front office got raided this offseason, with teams hiring several key members away from them. In the front office, they lost Brad Holmes, who went from being the Rams’ college scouting director to the Lions’ general manager. Holmes brought along with him to Detroit Ray Agnew, who will be the team’s assistant GM.

The Rams have yet to replace either executive, but Les Snead said on Tuesday that they’ll look to do so immediately from within. He mentioned Ray Farmer, former Browns GM, as a potential candidate to help fill those voids, possibly moving from a consulting role to a full-time job.

“We have a good subset of lieutenants in our building already, so I think initially – and we have Ray Farmer consulting and I’ve talked to Ray Farmer about maybe is it time to get back on the horse full-time. Not necessarily in Brad’s job, but we’ll look to fill it immediately from within, go through the process. At that point in time along the way as we live without two very, very good Rams front office employees, personnel men and just people, figure out where the holes are and what type of skill sets we might add. We’ve got enough people in the building with enough experience that we can get through this successfully.”

Farmer interviewed with the Jaguars this offseason for their GM job, but they ultimately went in a different direction. That’s good news for the Rams because he can help replace Holmes and Agnew, who were key members of the roster-building process.

Snead said they’re going through the process of finding replacements internally, and that the team will announce any moves when they’re made.

GM search: Jags to interview former Browns GM Ray Farmer

After interviewing many candidates out of the league for their GM role, the Jags are now looking at people in the league like Ray Farmer.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been given the nod to interview former Cleveland Browns general manager and current Los Angeles Rams consultant Ray Farmer. The interview will mark one of many in which the Jags have conducted with an executive since the firing of Dave Caldwell in November.

Farmer, 46, has been in the league since 2002, starting his career with the Atlanta Falcons as a scout. In 2006, he joined the Kansas City Chiefs and was their director of pro personnel until 2012. He then found his way to Cleveland in 2013 where he became the assistant general manager but was promoted the following year to their general manager role.

Farmer is also a former player in the league as he spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1996-98. He was selected by them out of Duke in the 1996 NFL Draft (pick No. 121) as a safety but ultimately ended up becoming a linebacker.

Farmer’s time in Cleveland didn’t go the best as he pulled the trigger on early-round selections who didn’t stay on the team long. However, some notables who he drafted that have had success include guard Joel Bitonio, linebacker Christian Kirksey, and running back Duke Johnson.

Farmer’s name is one many will also remember from the Browns’ textgate incident where he was suspended for texting coaches playcalling and personnel tidbits during the game.

The Browns ultimately went 10-22 while Farmer was their general manager and he was fired after the 2016 season. However, with a lot of time occurring between then and now, it appears he’s found himself back under consideration for general manager openings after spending time with the Rams organization.

Browns have been well ahead of the curve in hiring minorities

The Browns have had 3 men of color as head coaches and 3 other African-Americans running the team

The NFL continues to try and promote minority hiring among its 32 member clubs. The latest attempt at expanding upon the “Rooney Rule” is a proposal that will provide draft incentives for teams to hire and retain minorities in coaching and front office positions.

Voting on this proposal will come soon, and it’s a divisive issue that creates many unpleasant conversation tentacles and debates. Hiring people of color in positions of power in a league where people of color make up over two-thirds of the players seems like a natural concept, but it hasn’t worked out that way in most places.

Cleveland has largely been one of the few exceptions. The Browns have been one of the most aggressively progressive organizations in hiring African-American men to prominent decision-making roles.

Take new GM Andrew Berry. He’s the third African-American hired to run the Browns front office (in one title or another) in the last decade, following Sashi Brown and Ray Farmer. Cleveland’s longest-tenured head coach 1999 is Romeo Crennel, hired in 2005 and lasting four full seasons. Hue Jackson — hired by Brown — got 2.5 seasons as the head coach. Terry Robiskie even had a brief run as an interim coach. The Browns are one of the very few NFL organizations that have had multiple people of color as both head coaches and general managers.