Mike Holmgren To the Cleveland Browns: Will the Big Show Be Worth the Big Bucks?

Once again, Randy Lerner got his man.

Mike Holmgren, known as “The Big Show”, is bringing his NFL expertise to the shores of Lake Erie.  And it only took a rumored $50 million over a span of five years to do it.

Cleveland Browns fans are jumping for joy.  Facebook statuses are appointing Mike Holmgren “The Big Savior”.  Even though the signing one of the greatest minds in the NFL is slowing putting Cleveland back on the football map, I do have to ask the question, is he worth the money?

Without a doubt Mike Holmgren was one of the greatest coaches of his time.  As a head coach he boasts a 161-111 regular season record, 13-11 playoff record, three Super Bowl appearances, and one Super Bowl Championship. 

Holmgren as a coach only had three losing seasons in a 17-year span.  The Browns have only had two winning seasons since coming back into the NFL in 1999.

All of these statistics are great if we were hiring “The Big Show” to be the big man on the sidelines, but this is not the case.  He has been hired as the President of the Cleveland Browns.

When Holmgren held this position with Seattle, his teams performed at their worst level of his career.  In his GM years of 1999-2002 the Seahawks had a 31-33 record, and had two losing seasons.  What was even worse than his GM/coaching record of those seasons was his NFL Draft record.

In his four years at the helm for Seattle, he managed to draft only four players that stand out as having an impact.  Shaun Alexander, the former NFL MVP running back, Steve Hutchinson, the Pro Bowl guard in Minnesota, Darrell Jackson, the wide receiver who spent seven years with the team, and Jerramy Stevens, the controversial but dependable tight end.

I feel like I have written up a resume like this before.  It looks like the one I created when I was analyzing the Browns draft history since coming back into the league in 1999.  Granted, Holmgren has produced more players that are active in the NFL, such as our very own Floyd Womack, but the results of the draft are shockingly similar with missing on players that are now dominating the NFL.

Lerner wanted a “strong, serious, credible” leader for the Cleveland Browns organization. So he just shelled out $50 million dollars to bring in Holmgren to turn around our beloved organization.

After last season he wanted a coach with “NFL head-coaching experience”.  He quickly chose “his man” in Eric Mangini, whose first year in Cleveland has been nothing short of a daytime soap opera.

Almost a year after getting his man in Eric Mangini, the Browns organization is in a state of flux.  We are 3-11, but showing signs of getting off of the life support that our team has been on all season long.  Mangini’s methods of cleaning house and building a culture with “his guys” seems to be working after enduring nearly a season of pain and agony. 

We fired our general manager (who Mangini picked) because he and Mangini didn’t see eye to eye, traded our Pro Bowl head cases in Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow, and have somehow ended up worse than we were at this point last season.

Now we are faced with another quick decision by Lerner, and the hiring of “his man” Mike Holmgren.  This could mean that we endured another season of rebuilding with Mangini for nothing if Holmgren does in fact fire him at the end of the season.  This could also mean that we get to endure the same draft failure that got Holmgren stripped of his general managing duties in Seattle after the 2002.

Holmgren is $50 million richer, has 11 draft picks in 2010, and full control over the fate of our Cleveland Browns.  His tenure in Cleveland starts today, and for the sake of Lerner’s checkbook, his quick decision-making process, as well as, the sanity of Cleveland Browns fans around the world; The Big Show better not become a Big Flop.