(AP) Mike Holmgren Visits with Browns Front Office

Mike Holmgren concluded his second day of visits with Randy Lerner today, leaving allegedly without a deal signed. As Lerner searches for his new “czar” for his football operation, Mike Holmgren has continued to be high on his wish list.

Now that significant visits are taking place, there are couple things to note.

First, Mike Holmgren’s agent, Bob Lamont, was with him on this visit. That alone is indication enough that these are not just preliminary discussions. You don’t have your agent along with you, if you are just putting your finger in the air looking for winds of interest. You do so when you are trying to hash out a deal. That deal would allegedly have to be in the range of $10M per season, if the Browns want their opportunity to be seriously considered by the 61-year-old NFL veteran. If you think that’s going to hold Lerner back, think again. He is already set to dole out $11M in salaries to former coach Romeo Crennell, and former GM Rand Savage, among others. If money were Randy Lerner’s primary concern, we would still be in another year of the old regime.

Secondly, Randy Lerner has clearly stated that he wants a seasoned NFL executive to head his football operations. Now that executive interviews are also subject to the Rooney Rule which require at least one minority candidate be interview for any position, Lerner cannot hire Holmgren without interviewing a minority candidate. Well, actually he CAN…..he would then face being fined for violating the Rooney Rule if he doesn’t. The problem is that it’s only been in the past few seasons that minorities have started getting hired for coaching positions, and there aren’t a lot in executive level positions right now. So the question then is how Lerner will interview an experienced minority candidate, if there aren’t many to choose from. The one exception is former Brown, Ozzie Newsome, who is GM for the Ravens, but his name has come up before (as in when the Browns were searching for a GM prior to hiring Randy Savage) and there has been little interest if any from Newsome. So it is entirely possible that a guy like Lerner, who has been willing to shell out millions to former employees for terminating them while under contract, will have no problem paying a few hundred thousand in fines if he is able to hire the “czar” he so covets.

Stay tuned…………

Tags: Mike Holmgren, Randy Lerner