Is Coach Prime the Next Head Coach of the Browns?

 

Yeah, Coach Prime Might Be the One Guy Who Browns Fans Might Be Willing to Forgive for the Upcoming Post-Watson Era Disaster.

Coach Prime, the Superstar formerly known as Neon Deion, formerly known as Deion Sanders, is probably the front runner to be the next Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns when Kevin Stefanski, two-time NFL Coach of the Year is fired. 

The reason Stefanski will be fired is simple. Deshaun Watson has been employed as the poster boy on the play-now-pay-later plan, and the Browns have deferred the poison pill as far as they can. They must now swallow $130 million dollars remaining remaining on his contract over 2026 and 2027. 

That means the 2026 cap will be charged, in round terms, $80 million dollars and 2027 will be charged another $50 million. No team can win that that kind of dead money taken from the salary pool.  

Rather than blame himself, Jimmy Haslam III will fire Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski.  

What idiot would want to coach the Browns in such a dire predicament?  Only the father of Haslam's hand-picked quarterback, Shedeur Sanders.  

There is a strong rumor that the Browns overloaded the quarterback room so that Jimmy couldn't draft Shedeur, but he went and did it anyway when Shedeur slid.  This writer believes the rumor and moreover also believes that Dillon Gabriel was deliberately overdrafted so that there would be no roster spot for Shedeur.  Gabriel is a sixth round pick who they probably should not have drafted at all based on his lack of NFL speed and size. Still, he can competently can hand the ball off the three headed monster of Jerome Ford, Quinshon Judkins and former Tennessee Vol Dylan Sampson, and throw dink and dunk passes to the likes of former Tennessee Vol Cedric Tillman and Jerry Jeudy.

By the way, why do the Brown have two former Tennessee Vols among their draftees (Tillman was their highest pick in 2023). Then the Browns also picked up former Tennessee Vol QB Joshua Dobbs twice. Isn't Jimmy Haslam III a Tennessee Alum?  What a coincidence!  Or not? 

Perhaps Jimmy, having not learned his lesson from the Manziel affair is making draft picks for the team, making the GM and Head Coach job in Cleveland exceptionally unappealing.  

Only the father of Shedeur Sanders would want to be the Head Coach in such dire circumstances.  Who knows?  It might be a good move. Sanders is a strong enough personality he might force Haslam to stand down and let the new GM do his job. 

Shedeur Needs to Go

 

Shedeur has got to go. This writer is a big fan of his famous father, Coach Prime. However, the Browns are once again entering a realm of quarterback dysfunction.  First of all, we can't prove it, but it is suspected that owner Jimmy Haslam made the call on drafting Shedeur, not Andrew Berry. You have to admit it's weird they drafted two quarterbacks in the same draft when there is not enough roster space for both of them.  So why did the talented Shedeur slide into fifth round?  Much had to do with fear that Papa Prime would seek to influence the Front Office of any team that drafted him.  Drafting Shedeur can get the GM fired if that were to happen.  

It was also rumored that Shedeur gave very bad interviews, possibly because he wanted to discourage certain teams--such as the New York Giants--from drafting him.  That might actually be a sound strategy, given their poor record at developing quarterbacks.  

However, two speeding tickets at over 90 miles an hour is additional evidence of immaturity and a rich kid's sense of entitlement. 

Now the question is whether Haslam is going to protect his kid again, just like he protected Johnny Manziel from a Coach who wanted to start someone else. 

Flacco has a 4-1 record as a starter for Cleveland.  Why do we want to fire him in favor of an unknown rookie?  A case could be made for Kenny Pickett, who has a 15-10 lifetime record.  That's not terrible, is it?

In a sound football organization, the owners carry out ownership functions, the General Manager manages the roster and salary cap, the coaches coach and the players play.  

In a dysfunctional team, you have players that overrule decisions by the coach and GM, and report directly to the owner who makes his own football decisions, overruling the coach and GM. So, the owner's favorite players have more authority in certain matters than the coach or GM. The net result is chaos.  Dee Haslam, who is the CEO of Haslam Sports Group, and not Jimmy, tried to get the organization to run properly and for a while it seemed like it might work.  But with Jimmy's decision to overpay in salary cap and draft picks for "generational talent" Deshaun Watson, that went out the window. 

What we are learning in the Shedeur affair is that Jimmy has not changed and is repeating the same mistakes from the Manziel days.  Shedeur is obviously talented, but also has a sense of entitlement which allows him to think he should drive cars at 100 mph and still be the Face of the Franchise and leader of the team.  Mind, it's one thing if a defensive player does something a bit crazy (in fact we like that), but quite another if the Leader of the Offense does it. 

For those who think Shedeur loves Cleveland is loyal to us, let's ask this very relevant question:  If Shedeur is ultimately cut, he will presumably be signed to an NFL Practice Squad.  So, will  Cleveland be Shedeur's first choice?  If he is so happy in Cleveland he can stay here and learn under Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco and can be promoted at any time.  He's got plenty of money from NIL in college, not to mention his burgeoning merchandising sales with the Browns. So, do you think 76 Lou Groza Blvd will continue to be his home if he has a choice?  

Oh hail nah!  You wanna bet?  He grew up in Dallas, and played college ball in Boulder Colorado, which is close to Denver and  Jackson State, Mississippi, which is 186 miles from New Orleans.  That's only an hour and a half drive for him.  No, if he is cut, he will leave Berea and never look back.  He is only a Brown because he had no other choice.