Mike Holmgren To Cleveland Browns May Not Happen, If So GM Choices Are Slimming

On Thursday, Seattle Seahawks President and General Manager, Tim Ruskell, resigned from his position, leaving an undesirable opening for a guy who many Cleveland Browns fans wanted to help their team in Mike Holmgren.

Holmgren was once favored to be the front-runner for the Browns' "football czar" position once owner Randy Lerner announced that he was preparing to hire "one of the greatest football minds" to rebuild the team.

Now with the sudden resignation of Ruskell from the Seahawks, the Browns are no longer the job that Holmgren might have desired the most. He is still living in Seattle with his family and he has said (many times) how much he loves the West Coast.

This is were Browns fans swallow the large lump in their throat because there is now a .02 percent chance that Holmgren will come to Cleveland.

Why would he when he is already set up in Seattle and the same job is available in his own home town?

So where does that leave the Browns in terms of other available candidates for their "football czar?"

The pickings are starting to get slim, especially if Lerner wants to get a proven NFL leader to run the football operations of his team.

Front-runner GM candidate:

Floyd Reese

Currently Reese is a consultant to the New England Patriots, but he is the reason that the Tennessee Titans found success after they moved from Houston to Nashville.

GM Candidates that want too much power:

Bill Cowher

Cowher has said many times that he loves his high-paying studio job, with The NFL Today , but he has also hinting he wants to coach again in 2010. The only problem is that Cowher is not only eyeing a team that will allow him to be a Coach/GM with ultimate power, but his likely landing spot would be with the Carolina Panthers, since that is where his family has lived since 2007.

The Browns would LOVE to get Cowher, but Lerner may not want another guy who wants to power of both the coach and GM.

Mike Shanahan

Here is another case of a guy who would wants total control by being both the coach and the GM. Shanahan is a great offensive minded coach, but the power he also desires will not work with Lerner and the Browns.

Shanahan was wined and dined by the Buffalo Bills last week, but he left without a contract.

Long-shot GM candidates:

Marty Schottenhiemer

Schottenheimer currently works for and is a co-host with Sirius NFL Radio and he has stated on-air many times that he has no interest in coaching in the NFL, but he has not said if he has any interests in returning to the NFL as a GM.

Charlie Casserly

Currently the General Manager of The NFL Today , Casserly has been a GM in the past, but he has said during the show that he has not been contacted by the Brown, but he also did not say whether he did or did not have any interest in the position.

Bill Parcells

This is more rumor than anything else, but Parcells supposedly has a "back door exit" in his contract with the Miami Dolphins if he decides he wants to move on.

Parcells loves to take bad teams and build them into a contender, and the Browns pose one of the most difficult rebuilding projects that he has ever faced.

The challenge alone could bring him to Cleveland, but this is still a very, very long shot.

The Browns are going to be up against several other teams that will be looking for either a new Head Coach or a General Manager since this list of available names is the strongest it has been in years.

Hopefully, they can get the right guy as their GM, because the rotating doors of their front office has to stop if the team is ever going to find balance, consistency, and get back into contention in the NFL.

(Article also posted on Dawg Scooper)