Cleveland Browns 2010 Draft Looking Brighter, Joshua Cribbs Not Going Anywhere

For the first time since the franchise was reborn, the Cleveland Browns have a quality front office in place with a vision for the future.

Mike Holmgren, president of football operations, introduced Tom Heckert, the Browns new general manager, and Brian Wiedmeyer, the new vice president of football operations, to the public at a press conference Tuesday.

Head coach Eric Mangini joined them at the table in a session that, frankly, was a bright ray of sunshine on a very cold winter day.

Mangini said he felt “invigorated” by the new management team and clearly looked much more relaxed.

Holmgren made no bones about being the man in charge and Heckert brought an air of confidence to his remarks that was hard not to get caught up in.

Owner Randy Lerner was present for the press conference, but as is usual in these situations he kept to the back of the room and didn’t appear on camera or take questions.

Holmgren addressed a wide variety of topics while Heckert said he would be in charge of setting up the draft board.

The questions involving the draft and the power structure elicited the best responses any Browns fan could ever want to hear after the botched drafts of the Phil Savage era and Mangini’s one uneven draft.

While it is fairly clear Mangini ended up being the lone voice of authority in the draft room last year, we’ll never know for certain. However, it is certain this year Mangini will have other people to talk to this year who can hopefully talk him out of drafting a David Veikune in the second round.

Mangini may have tried to do too much last season, and the 1-11 record through the first 12 weeks of the season certainly bears that notion out, but it is important to remember it was Mangini’s decision to hire Kokinis and he can’t be absolved of all responsibility for Kokinis’ failure.

Whatever the situation in 2009 was, this is a much better situation now. The Browns have men in the front office with proven track records that have the talent and the knowledge to bring a Super Bowl victory to the long-suffering fan base.

The best quote to come out of the day was from Holmgren, when asked about the draft, stressed it wouldn’t be one individual making that decision.

“It's a Cleveland Browns decision, and I want you to believe that. That's how we're going to do business from now on,” he said.

Notes: Holmgren said Brady Quinn probably won’t need surgery but that he hasn’t made any decisions on the quarterback situation yet.

Addressing the Joshua Cribbs contract situation, Holmgren noted nothing is final and that he believes everything will work out.

For those still ledge-jumping, I said the same thing last week here . Calm down and remember Cribbs’ agent wants paid on his timetable, not the Browns.

From a reporter’s standpoint, Holmgren clearly is much better at handling the press than Mangini ever was. Mangini, for all the classes he said he took on how to handle the media, never really seemed to learn anything.

With Holmgren there are no mind-numbing, soul-killing coachspeak nonanswers. If Holmgren doesn’t want to tell you something, he declines to answer rather than giving a five-minute filibuster answer.

Holmgren even goes out of his way to say why he won’t answer certain questions, such as with the query about Donte Stallworth’s status (unknown at this time).

Like it or not, care about it or not, dealing with the media is part of the job of being a head coach in the NFL, and Mangini never handled it well. Hopefully, under the tutelage of Holmgren, Mangini can grow into the role of the public face of an NFL team on his way to winning a Super Bowl.

UPDATE: Romeo Crennel has been hired by the Kansas City Chiefs as their new defensive coordinator. This is noteworthy because this will reduce what the Browns have to pay him by whatever amount Crennel's contract is.