Less than eight hours after firing former Executive President of Football Operations, Sashi Brown, the Cleveland Browns hired former Kansas City Chiefs general manager, John Dorsey as his replacement.
Dorsey, 57, who spent time in Green Bay as a scout, Director of College Scouting and Player Operations, in addition to Kansas City and Seattle as their former Director of Player Personnel has a Super Bowl ring with the Packers along with notable draft selections such as NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, A.J. Hawk, B.J. Raji, Greg Jennings and former Cleveland Heights High standout in TE Travis Kelce, Marcus Peters, Tyreek Hill and Alex Smith via trade from the San Francisco 49ers.
Given his proven track record of drafting and trading via free agency, it’s safe to say that the Browns hit a much needed home run in hiring Dorsey.
1-27 over their last two seasons, Dorsey walks into a franchise on the brink of turning things around thanks to having five picks in the first two rounds, including the top overall pick and a likely top ten pick via the Houston Texans and three picks in the second round.
Dorsey will also have $100 million dollars in salary cap room to play with in luring potential agents to Cleveland. While it may not be considered a major destination now thanks to the constant turnover, the presence of Hue Jackson and a promising young roster that features WR Corey Coleman, QB DeShone Kizer, TE David Njoku, DE Myles Garrett, NT Danny Shelton, DE Emmanuel Ogbah and CB Briean Body-Calhoun, Dorsey has some potential cornerstone pieces already in place.
His hiring, also seems to signal Cleveland being done with analytics and going back to a more traditional style of football thinking, which based on the recent track record of the forementioned Brown, needs to happen.
It’s hard to justify passing on Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson, and trying to justify it with data, but the only numbers that matter are 1-27.
With perhaps one of the best QB classes in recent history that will feature Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Mason Rudolph, Josh Allen and Luke Falk, Dorsey will not make the same mistake on passing on a possible sure-fire franchise QB.
What does this mean for Jackson and Kizer in ’18? Who knows. But with a new sheriff in town in Dorsey, don’t be surprised to see him turn things in Cleveland around sooner rather than later.