Bad News Browns: Mike Holmgren Left Cleveland With No Deal and May Be Using Them

Mike Holmgren and his agent Bob LaMonte have been in Cleveland, OH meeting with Browns owner Randy Lerner the past two days with the interest of running the football operations of the franchise.

Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reported that on Monday night, Holmgren and Lerner met and had dinner at a Cleveland area restaurant where two dozen other restaurant patrons recognized the two men sitting, eating, and having a conversation.

Not a coincidence, this public move was strategically intended to be so visible to the public by either one of or both of the men from a public relations standpoint.

Holmgren has openly expressed his interest in both the Browns and Seattle Seahawks.

He currently resides in Seattle with his family and with the Seahawks losing their general manager, Tim Ruskell, to an early resignation, the position is Holmgren's for the taking.

Or is it?

Representatives in the Seahawks organizations have said that they are willing to interview Holmgren, but they do not want to start their front office search until the 2009 regular season ends.

Holmgren has openly expressed his interest in getting a deal done with a team before Christmas Day.

There appears to be a slight conflict of interest between the Seahawks and Holmgren as far as the dates are concerned.

So perhaps Holmgren was the reason that he and Lerner were so visible to the public Monday night so he can leverage the Seahawks into signing him before December 25th or to get more money.

Or perhaps Lerner was the mastermind of the public dinner and meeting.

Lerner is an extreme recluse, when it comes to the public eye and the media, and he might have wanted word to get out that he was indeed meeting with Holmgren without having to tell the media himself.

Like a word of mouth campaign from and by the people.

The biggest problem about the two men meeting is that on Tuesday evening, Holmgren got on a plane and flew back to Seattle without him signing a contract.

This is bad news for the Browns because Holmgren and his agent were in Cleveland to obviously negotiate a deal to become the Head of Football Operations, but Lerner let him go without signing on the dotted line.

Holmgren may indeed by using the Browns and Lerner as leverage, but like in free agency, if you do not sign a player that is visiting the team and he leaves, he will always sign with the next team.

Holmgren may have left and might be out of the running to head the Browns, but at least there are several other highly-qualified candidates available.