Mike Holmgren In Cleveland, Talking With Browns

According to a report in the Akron Beacon Journal this morning, Mike Holmgren spent Monday in Cleveland "discussing joining the Browns as the team's football leader, the 'czar' of football." There is expected to be more courting of the former head coach by the Browns today.

Holmgren would guide the ship in Cleveland, where he would do one job and not two.

His input and thinking would be the guiding force in the hiring of a GM, and in the future of coach Eric Mangini.

Holmgren is almost universally respected in the league, and he is obviously interested in returning to the league after taking a year off.

He retired as a coach after the 2009 season with the Seahawks.

It's not known if Holmgren would accept a job immediately; he's a thoughtful guy who probably would want to think things through. But Browns owner Randy Lerner is working hard to convince Holmgren the Browns would be right for him.

What this would mean for Mangini isn't exactly clear yet, but reports out of Ohio say that the win over Pittsburgh Thursday night earned him at least one more year.

Holmgren announced earlier this year that he wants to return to football in 2010, but was unsure in what capacity.

It's early, and still speculative, but the initial reaction at SB Nation's Dawgs By Nature is that the addition of Holmgren would be a good move for the Browns.