FLOWERY BRANCH – Cleveland Browns general manager Ray Farmer, a former Falcons' executive, discussed the team's decision to release offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan from his contract with two years remaining.
Shanahan is slated to be named the Falcons new offensive coordinator when head coach in-waiting Dan Quinn takes charge after the Super Bowl.
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
There were accusations that the Cleveland coaches were under a mandate to play rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel when the team was in the hunt for a playoff spot last season. Also, Cleveland.com reported that a high ranking member of the personnel department was texting coaches during games over play-calling, which is a violation of league rules.
The Browns could have forced Shanahan to honor the final two years of his contact. Perhaps he was let go with the knowledge that he wouldn’t help the league in the texting investigation.
"The whole Shanahan thing is what it is," Farmer told Tom Reed of Cleveland.com (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) on Tuesday at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. "At the end of the day we believe (head coach Mike) Pettine, the coaching staff, is going to find a better guy that's going to move us in a direction we want to go."
But Farmer, who was a scout with the Falcons from 2002-05, contended that disagreements between coaches and the front-office are common around the league. Farmer was also Kansas City's director of pro personnel from 2006-12.
"In every (building) I've been in, with the Atlanta Falcons, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cleveland Browns -- the teams I've been associated with -- there's always been a natural friction between front office and the coaches," Farmer said.
"That's just how it is. Sometimes the personnel guys want Player A and the coaches want Player B. The teams that are really, really good, they work through those things. Sometimes, you have to have the hard conversations. Sometimes you look guys in the eye and you argue and you yell, but you're trying to get it right. You're trying to come up with the right answers."
In addition to Shanahan leaving, the Browns fired quarterback coach Dowell Loggains and wide receivers coach Mike McDaniel, a close friend of Shanahan, who could be headed to Atlanta, too.
Farmer wouldn't say if he felt disappointed that Shanahan left the Browns.
"Again, my personal feelings about how people do what they do is just that, it's personal," Farmer said. "For me, I look at all this stuff as it's all a business."
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