I think if they don't win a game before the bye, Mangini will be fired during the bye week.  I don't expect Holmgren to take over coaching.  I think he may finally be done coaching, I would have to imagine that Rob Ryan or Brad Seely, the assistant head coach/special teams coordinator, would take over in the interim.  Something tells me the Browns will win one before the bye week.   I guess it would not kill us to keep Mangini for the whole year because I don't expect Ryan or Seely to be that much better than Mangini.  The Browns are in this position because we don't have enough playmakers on this team.  Every playmaker we did have were traded away.  Grant it a lot of them deserved to be traded away but Mangini never replaced them, either through trades or free-agency.   Let's face it the Browns need a franchise QB, their #1 priority and then a #1 WR.   I think the defense is adequate, not that we don't need playmakers on that side of the ball but offense should be the main concern before the defense.   Look at the Bengals maybe a bad example considering they are rumored to be so cheap in scouting and the personnel department.   But if you look they got their franchise QB in Palmer and a  #1 WR in Chad Johnson which was a good start.   Then they drafted and built a very good line to protect Palmer.   Then they did their work on defense every year drafting a key piece for their defense.  Most of the defensive starters are either 1st or 2nd round picks.  Their starting CBs are considered the best in the AFC North, maybe in the NFL, let's just say both CBs are well respected around the NFL.  Grant it a lot of their players have character issues but who cares really, the Browns are not building a choir, they are building a football team.   If you have strong leadership in your coaching staff, you should be able to control these high risk players.  I find it amazing how Marvin Lewis is able to control a bunch of players that act like thugs.  Just so I make everything clear, I don't think the Bengals are the greatest team but at least they are competitive and they have made the playoffs and won the conference more than once a decade.  The Browns will never win a championship if they can't make the playoffs.  

Good article about DJ in the Plain Dealer today.  It basically stated that he is going to stop being selfish and go about his business and perform his best to be the best LB on the team.   Which brings me to the LBs and who is going to make this 53 man roster.   I'll list the LBs who have a shot to make the team.

D. Jackson, Gocong, Roth, Fujita, Bowens, Trusnik, Barton, Benard, Maiva, Veikune, Benard, and Costanzo.

You know 12 LBs are not going to make the team, probably 10, maybe 9.   So weeding down Barton is just about cut, it almost like they think/want his career to be done with the neck injury he had last year.  So that is 11 LBs now.

Cocong, Roth, Fujita, Bowens, and Trusnik are most likely guaranteed a spot based on last year's performances.

Maiva and Costanzo are special team guys.  Mangini drafted Maiva so he has a special place in this heart.  Which brings me to Veikune, another guy that Mangini drafted and no matter what he does, Mangini is going to force him on the roster, based on his belief he was worth a 2nd round pick.

And finally the unlucky, Benard, he should make the team, he was highly impressive to me at the end of the year and I would seriously doubt he would pass through waivers and go on the Browns practice squad again.

So in conclusion, your 9-10 LBs are D. Jackson, Gocong, Roth, Fujita, Bowens, Trusnik, Veikune, Maiva, and Costanzo, which probably leaves Benard looking at the outside, looking in.

Which brings me to my headline, is it possible that DJ is traded before the regular season for some draft pick, just think if he has a good training camp and a good preseason, I could see some teams test the water to see if they can get DJ for some draft pick.  And you know Mangini and Ryan would probably not blink an eye considering they want their LBs to be versatile and in turn it will save 2 LB spots for project Veikune and special team Maiva.

Screw Matt Barnes, let him go to the LA Lakers.  Matt Barnes is nothing special and he is not a player you want for a rebuilding team.  A look at the free agent market, there are other players you can find that are just as good and could be a lot cheaper and would be worth a gamble for a year.  Here is the list http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=FreeAgents-10-11.   If I'm the GM, I'm looking at such players like Joe Alexander at SF, Acie Law at PG, Jarvis Hayes at SF, Randolph Morris at C, Stephen Graham at SF/SG,  Joey Graham SF/SG, Mardy Collins PG/SG, Antoine Wright at SF, Patrick O' Bryant at C,  Josh Boone at C,  and Shannon Brown at SG.    For SG, my first choice would be Shannon Brown.  For SF, my first choice would be Joe Alexander.  For C, my first choice would be Josh Boone.  I don't know what happened to Joe Alexander, he looked really good at West Virginia and was a lottery pick.  Milwaukee never truly gave him a chance and then he was traded as an extra.  I think if given the chance here in Cleveland, he could suceed, if nothing else it would be worth a gamble for one year.  Another guy, that could be good and worth a gamble is Acie Law, again never given a chance in Atlanta and was traded as an extra.  He was really good at Texas A&M.   I wouldn't be upset if going into the season our starting line-up was Alexander, Hickson, Boone, Mo, and Brown.   It is better than our current line-up as of right now is Hickson, Moon, Andy, Mo, and Parker.  Moon, Parker, and Andy should all be coming off the bench regardless of us rebuilding or not.   Just a side note, Shannon Brown is a long shot to come here but still if I was the GM he would be first choice.  Easily the best SG on the market right now. 

I hate this every one of these free agents wants to go to a contender.  If your not the Lakers, Bulls, Heat, Boston, and Orlando good luck getting a good free agent.  The Cavs can't get any respectable free agent to come here unless they hugely overpay them and give them a long term contract.   If the Heat don't go to the Eastern Conference Finals next year, it will utterly be a total bust for them.   Not only do they have the Big Three of Wade, James, and Bosh, they are slowly establishing a good supporting cast too.  If the Heat don't go to the Finals next year,  it will be utterly a huge failure.  If you guys remember a few years back with the Lakers, Karl Malone and the Glove Gary Payton signed for less to play for the Lakers, for their last chance for a ring, the same thing is happening again in Miami.  The good thing, neither one of them won a ring with the Lakers.   I commend Kevin Durant, he hates these big stars aligning together to create an uneven competitiveness to win.  Nobody wants to earn their way to a championship and instead wants to be handed the championship just because of namesake.  Really, that is wrong with the world today, from the very beginning, the young is being taught that everybody is a winner and nobody is a loser until real life begins and guess what there are winners and losers and if your not a winner, you are going to get swallowed up in this world and never really amount to anything in life.  Teams like the Cavs are just going to have to build through the draft.  I hope they don't give in and pay these average free agents big money and a long term deal.  I guess I'll be fine if they do sign Flip Murray abide a one year deal, maybe an option for a second year.  The Cavs need to acquire some draft picks for next year but I don't know what players we have are going to give us first round picks, we probably have a bunch of players that can give us second round picks but they will probably end up being low second round picks.

The Cavs need to trade every piece they can to acquire as many draft picks as possible.  Unfortunately I think we may be stuck with the big contract guys like Mo, Varejao, and Jamison for at least one year.  But all is not lost, Mo's contract has an ETO.   I don't fully understand what a ETO means; is it just a player option or does it include a team option as well.  If it is a team option, I would not pick up the option and if it is just a player option than maybe Mo plays like an all-star and opts out and will look for a bigger contract in free agency.  I was looking at next year's free-agent class and other than Carmelo Anthony which he will probably be off the market soon when he signs his extension in Denver.  The next best free-agent in my mind is Al Horford.  Al Horford is young and would definitely take the most money and I'm pretty sure Atlanta will not match the contract if the contract is close to a maximum contract.  I was thinking I would love Chris Paul but I wonder if he would be willing to come to Cleveland.  So if the Cavs suck really bad and miss the playoffs and get lucky in the lottery, we may be able to get Harrison Barnes or Kyrie Irving.  Harrison Barnes is supposed to be a poor man LeBron and Kyrie Irving is supposed to be like Chris Paul.   Harrison Barnes is supposed to be best prospect in next year's draft.  But if the Cavs get #1 pick, I would grab the best PG in the draft.  Grant it, I don't believe the Cavs would get lucky twice in a decade.  My reasoning is because it is much easier to build a team with a great PG than a great SF ala LeBron.  Plus guys like Harrison Barnes are always lurking year after year.  Most likely the Cavs will be good enough to either almost make the playoffs or make the playoff as a low seed.   So the next best option and hope he will be there would be Demetri McCamey is supposed to like another former Illini Deron Williams.  Which if I can't get a Chris Paul type PG than my next PG would be Deron Williams.  In my opinion, the best PG in the NBA is Paul, Williams, Nash, and Rondo.   According to scout review, there are supposed to be some very good PG in the draft next year.  I guess there is some Euro that has similar skill set to Nash.   The Cavs definitely need a upgrade at PG and the draft would be the best option compared to free-agency.