Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns team president Mike Holmgren gave Eric Mangini the respect of seeing if he could turn the franchise around in 2010. After a long losing streak to close out the season, Holmgren decided that it was time to implement his own coaching staff and make some drastic changes to the team's approach on offense and defense. The Cleveland Browns' new head coach is Pat Shurmur, formerly the offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams. Shurmur was an attractive candidate for Holmgren because he spent last year making the Rams' offense work with Sam Bradford. His new mission is to do the same with the Browns' Colt McCoy, who is expected to be guaranteed the starting role at quarterback in the team's new West Coast Offense system. Shurmur will also be calling plays in his first season
since the team has no dedicated offensive coordinator.

Changes are coming on the defensive side of the ball for the Cleveland Browns too. While Rob Ryan was well-liked in the Browns' locker room, Holmgren decided to go a different route and brought in former Buffalo Bills head coach Dick Jauron to be the team's new defensive coordinator. Jauron will switch the Browns from a 3-4 defense to a 3-4 defense. The Browns chose not to retain some of their veteran defensive linemen, such as Shaun Rogers and Kenyon Coleman, prior to the draft. General manager Tom Heckert said the team wanted to get younger at the position, so they took a defensive tackle (Phil Taylor) in the first round and a defensive end (Jabaal Sheard) in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

Since that time, things have sort of been in limbo for the Cleveland Browns due to the NFL lockout. The lockout is especially tough on the Browns because they have new systems on both sides of the ball but are unable to receive guidance from their new coaches. McCoy received a playbook prior to the lockout and has been running several offensive minicamps to help get the players familiar with the basics of the West Coast Offense. Cleveland definitely has some nice core players on offense and defense such as McCoy, RB Peyton Hillis, LT Joe Thomas, C Alex Mack, DT Ahtyba Rubin, and CB Joe Haden, but they have some question marks at key positions such as wide receiver, right guard, right tackle, and safety unless additions are made in free agency.

The Browns are a team on the rise, so hopefully the lockout does not end up setting them back too much.