Should Browns Fans Trust Eric Mangini?

       As I sit here pondering yet another humiliating loss, I hang my head and begin to wonder whether the local media’s rumblings are true should we give the preverbal keys to the castle to one Eric Mangini? In 2007 we had gone 10-6 narrowly missing the playoffs, and in the weeks leading up to the 2008 season had experts and fans anointing the Browns the new team in the AFC North. They plastered us all over national T.V. and talked about how great of a team we had, and the potential to be the new AFC juggernaut. As most know this did not come to fruition as a matter of fact last season was the complete opposite of those things. We fell miserably on our face and finished with a record of 4-12 and failed to score a offensive touchdown in our final seven games.

       In the weeks leading up to the end of last season it became a forgone conclusion that not only would Romeo Crennel be fired but so would GM Phil Savage along with most of the front office. You might be asking what does this have to do with Mangini?  The day before Browns owner Randy Lerner fired everybody he had a meeting with former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher and asked him what it would take for him to become the 15th head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Coach Cower reportedly told Mr. Lerner that he wasn’t quite ready to return to head coaching, and jokingly asked Randy “if he could wait until next year.” This put Lerner in a curious spot, the fan base after going through four coaches in the previous nine years were itching to have a coach with experience to right are sinking ship.

     Enter stage left Eric Mangini, after getting fired recently from The New York Jets, Randy Lerner for reasons only known to him immediately fell in love and jumped in to bed with Mangini and not only gave him the head coaching job but also allowed him to hand pick his own boss in GM George Kokinas. After getting the job he immediately had a huge impact on the team by trading star Tight End Kellen Winslow to Tampa Bay for a coupe of draft picks. He tore down a wall at the Browns headquarters that had paintings of Browns Legends. This should have been the sign to most Browns fans that it was gonna be this guys way or he highway.

     Then came the 2009 draft The Browns sat with the 5th pick they traded that pick in a travesty of deal in which we only received a couple of players (Kenyon Coleman, Abraham Elam, and Brett Ratliff) and some additional draft picks all in exchange for a franchise quarterback. We had four picks in the first two rounds of the draft and at this point the only two have made a difference this year. Center Alex Mack(1st round) and Mohammed Massaquoi ( 2nd round pick). This year has essentially been a loss and it looks as though we will have a top 5 pick yet again in addition to having a high pick we currently have the most picks in this April's upcoming draft with 11 selections. This could be a turning point for the Browns organization if we can hit on most of these eleven picks we can become not only a competitive team but a team that can compete in the AFC north. If we miss on these picks it could set this franchise back another 10 years.

        This has led the local media to ask the question is Eric Mangini the guy to save this organization? This question made me think is it fair to judge him on one draft, one draft that in all fairness he had very little time to prepare for. After trolling through his pass drafts, the most glaring stat was of his 20 picks he made while coach of the Jets 13 of them were on the Jets 2009 opening day roster and all but one of his picks are currently playing in the NFL. He drafted 3 pro bowlers and is a true disciple of building a team from the inside out theory Bill Belichick. This is processs is easily seen in the fact that he has never drafted a Quarter back or a skill position player(RB, WR, TE) in the firs round. He instead had opted to draft two offensive linemen ( Nick Mangold and D‘Brickashaw Ferguson), a corner back(Darrelle Revis) and a Linebacker( Vernon Gholston). These picks have been solid, of these picks two have been Pro Bowlers Revis and Mangold while the other two are starters for the Jets.  The fact remains that most of his draft picks are not high tier players or skill players, they are rough and tough nose to the grindstone "System Players". The top two skill players on the current Jets were obtained after Mangini left Mark Sanchez and Braylon Edwards. 

       For a team so depleted with talent as the Browns are we need to raise the profile of our offense. We currently have only one big play making player on the offense, that is of course Josh Cribbs. As bad as are defense has been this years are anemic offense has been far worse, the reason is we don’t have many players with big playmaking ability. Another fault is his atendency to trade down and make draft day trades to inherit more picks he also has a propensity to pass on good players with questionable attitudes for average players with great attitudes. If we were a franchise that had not gone through 4 coaches in 10 years or 13 starting Quarterbacks since returning in 1999 he would be the right man for the job. However the fan base has lost a lot of there faith they want immediate progress and improvement and Mangini style is not conducive to our needs.

      Recent events indicates that Browns Management does not believe he is the man to rebuild this franchise. They recently hired Bernie Kosar to be special advisor to the owner, just this week they forced one of Mangini’s closest advisors to resign. It was reported that she had burned so many bridges inside the organization, that even he could not save her job. This lack of infatution with Mangini became even more obvious when after yet another embarrassing loss Randy Lerner gave a rare post game interview in which he said that he will be hiring someone to oversee the day to day operations of the Browns.

     The best case scenario for the Browns is for Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren, or Bill Cowher( the man Cleveland fans want) to decide they would like to take those 11 picks and rebuild a once storied franchise. If this can not happen then I believe we should give Mangini a chance to build what he has torn down because there is no better option. When I ask my self do I trust Eric Mangini with my football teams future the honest answer is no. I am smart enough to realize that if you cant get one of those top level coaches available then devil you know is better then the devil you don’t.