Browns owner Jimmy Haslam won't step in and veto the No. 4 pick on draft day, he'll consult with Bill Parcells but won't be hiring him and he still favors long-term success over a win-now mentality. Here are excerpts from a sit-down with Haslam at the NFL Annual Meeting.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In the aftermath of the Browns' big offseason shakeup, owner Jimmy Haslam is adjusting to life with all of the team's key decision-makers reporting to him. Already, he's taken on a more active role in football matters, including flying to California earlier this month in an effort to try to sign Pro Bowl center Alex Mack to a long-term deal.
And although Haslam acknowledges how crucial an offseason this is, he won't accompany GM Ray Farmer and coach Mike Pettine on their "big list'' of private quarterback workouts, which begins Monday with Fresno State's Derek Carr. When it comes to talent evaluation, Haslam will leave that to the experts.
At the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando last week, Haslam sat down with a small group of Browns beatwriters for about 20 minutes to address the state of the team and more. Here are some excerpts:
Q: Based on last season's 4-12 mark, do you have more of a win-now mentality?
A: I think we've said consistently we want to set the organization up for long-term success. That has not changed. Now, do I think the fans deserve a team that's going to win some games? Absolutely. But have we philosophically changed the way we look at things? No.
Q: Last year at the annual meeting, you said, 'we're not going to go 13-3.' Do you have any better attitude about the coming year?
A: I’d say cautiously optimistic, but I would never do that to (Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer), saying we’re going to have X amount of wins. I know who we play, but we don’t know when we play everybody, so it would be unfair to do that.
Q: What will your role in the draft be?
A: We will agree strategically that these are the positions we're going to concentrate on, but Ray and Mike and the football guys will concentrate on those specific decisions.
Q: Can you envision any scenario in which you’ll step in and say 'we’re going to do this in the draft'?
A: Zero chance. We will have so many conversations between now and the draft about who we’re picking. Are we picking this position or that position? Who are the top three or four guys? We will be well planned out, so that, ‘Hey, here’s plan A. But if plan A doesn’t work, here’s plan B, and here’s plan C. That’s what getting ready is all about. That’s what Ray and his group are focused on, and we’ll all participate. Mike will play a key role in that, too.
Q: Do you think you'll trade the pick or stay at No. 4?
A: There’s going to be all kinds of positioning between now and May 8, and I think anything’s possible. The great luxury we have is we have three picks in the top 35. The 35th pick in this draft is akin to a first-round draft pick in a lot of drafts. I think we’re well positioned. Now we’ve got to execute.
Q: Would you be okay if the No. 4 pick was used on something other than a quarterback?
A: Yeah, I don't think we're compelled to pick a quarterback at No. 4. We don't know that yet. The draft is May 8, so it's still six, seven weeks, and Ray and his team and Pett and his team have a lot of work to do between now and then.
Q: What are your feelings on quarterback Brian Hoyer?
A: I think Hoyer's a gamer. He's proved to be a winner. I think we all understand the importance of the quarterback position and we're going to utilize whatever assets necessary to be successful there.
Q: Farmer has said he's comfortable going into the season with Hoyer as his starter. How do you feel?
A: The same. Brian played 2 1/2 games and he played exceptionally well in those 2 1/2 games.
Q: How important is to bring in competition for Hoyer?
A: I think Ray and Mike have made it very clear that we're going to have competition at every position and that it's important to having a better football team and I don't think quarterback's any different.
Q: How important is this draft?
A: We have three of the top 35 picks and 10 overall, so it's exceptionally important that we do a good job in the draft and I think we've said that for the last year and this is an important free agency. We'll know this time next year, but I think we feel good about the moves we've made in free agency.
Q: Can you describe how Bill Parcells has helped you?
A: I think you all have gotten to know me a little bit, and I have a lot of weaknesses, but I'm intellectually curious and when you have the opportunity to spend time with people who are very knowledgeable in a field, I think it behooves me as the owner of the Browns to learn from those individuals. The Parcells relationship called me during last year's coaching search when he recommended somebody and I said 'coach, where are you?' And he said, 'I'm in Jupiter, Florida'. …We had lunch at his club and I was back down there in late January or February (to visit his wife Dee's parents), and Bill is a very smart, very confident guy, and he likes to talk about football. So to spend time talking to him about football, one it's interesting and two it's fun, and it can't hurt the Browns, but it's no more than he's nice enough to spend time with me talking about football.
Q: Do you have an open line of communication with Parcells?
A: Yeah, but Bill's not going to come work for us, okay? I know that's what everyone's angling at, but there's other people that we talk to too who are knowledgeable in football that will share that too. Somehow the Parcells information just happened to hit the radar screen.
Q: Do you see the need for another CEO like a Parcells?
A: I can understand why there's skepticism after all the change we've been through, but I can't tell you how happy we are with the set-up. It's very clear now and hopefully it's clear to you all. Alec (Scheiner) runs business, Ray is in charge of player personnel, and Mike Pettine's the head coach. It's very clear and I'm very happy with those three. They're very smart, and here's the most important thing: they work extremely well together and what I really like about these guys is they're driven, they want to win, they don't care who gets the credit. It's all about turning around the Cleveland Browns and that's all we talk about and that's all they talk about and semantics are a small thing, but when Joe (Banner) left the building, Mike Pettine came to me and said, 'what are you going to do with Joe's office?' I said I hadn't thought about it and he said, 'do you mind if I move in there?….that will put me right by Ray, right across from the draft room, right next to you and I'd rather be back there than kind of back in that hole.' You've all been around a lot of football coaches. Most of them like to be back in the hole and I think that shows how important Mike views working with Ray. It's a small thing, but I think it's a big thing.
Q: What's it like with everyone reporting to you now?
A: Each of these three knows so much more about their job than I do, it's almost laughable. I mean, whether it's Alec about the business of football, Ray certainly about personnel and Pett about coaching football. They're all very good and my job is to put the right people in place, provide the resources and then support those people in any way possible and then to make sure strategically we're all headed in the same direction. I'm there a full day, we get there at 8 and go until 8 once a week and then some on the weekends, occasionally I'm there a day-and-a-half for meetings like this, and we meet all day, and they're update meetings and we challenge each other and it's interesting and hopefully we're moving the organization forward.
Q: How important is it to extend the contract of Joe Haden?
A: Joe's very important to the franchise and people forget, Joe's only 24 years old, because he got out of high school a little early, got out of college three straight years and he's very important to the franchise, and going forward we want to sign our really good players early if possible and Joe certainly exemplifies that.
Q: Do you ever regret firing Rob Chudzinski?
A: “You know I can’t worry about that. Rob’s a quality person. I wish him nothing but the best of luck at Indianapolis, and he’ll have future opportunities. I’m just really excited about the group we’ve got here. You all haven’t been around them a lot, but they work well together. They’re smart. They’re competent, and I think over a period of time we’re going to turn this franchise around. ...I think Mike Pettine will be a great pro football coach. I do. I think he’s smart. He’s tough. He’s organized. I watched him interact when we brought in Dansby and Whitner. I think he’s going to be an excellent football coach.
Q: Where do things stand with the federal investigation of Pilot Flying J?
A: We’re continuing to cooperate with the federal government and I would hope over a period of time could have a successful outcome. But it’s a process you have to work through. The judicial process just has to work through it. It just takes time. …We would like to get it resolved. I think it would be healthy for everybody to get it resolved.
Q: How have you been received by your fellow owners in the aftermath of the investigation?
A: The owners have been great since day one. They were great when we were a new owner. They’ve been great as we’ve gone through the discovery and investigation. What you have to remember is the other 31 owners, you’re partners. And although you want to win on Sunday, you want your partners to do well, you want your partners to be successful and draw well, et cetera, because we do share revenues.”
Q: Are you still optimistic Barkevious Mingo can live up to his No. 6 pick status?
A: All I can say is I asked our new coaches how they felt about Mingo, and they’re extremely excited. Their wisdom is 10 times mine, and they’re very excited.
Q: The Trent Richardson trade turned out well for you.
A: Yeah, I think that was good and certainly want to wish Trent the best. (My initial reaction was) yeah, I think it's good for the franchise. But that 26th pick will hopefully be somebody we can parlay into a really good player.
