Open Thread: Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers
December 28, 2008Goodbye Phil Savage: A Recap of Drafts, Free Agents
December 28, 2008
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A report from ProFootballTalk has come out not even an hour after the end of today’s game with the Pittsburgh Steelers:
A league source tells us that the Browns already have parted ways with G.M. Phil Savage.
It’s not clear whether he quit or whether he was fired.
The move was widely expected. It has come faster than anyone anticipated.
Of course, this has not been confirmed by the team. However, I do find it a bit shocking as Savage was said to have been “status quo” with the team unless they could bring in a powerhouse GM.
Stay tuned.
SAVAGE IS OUT IN CLEVELAND [PFT]
19 Comments
And to improve your collective Cleveland mood, let’s go Cavs. Tipoff in 51 minutes.
Channel 5 reporting the same.
Best Browns news all year. Here’s to hoping Lerner will exhibit better decision-making on this round of hires.
What’s Phils email addy? I want to send him a holiday e-card.
and so it begins…
Cleveland.com is confirming the report now too. I have mixed feelings on this one. He definitely failed at a good portion of his job, but he also did huge things to improve this team through trades and draft. It almost seems criminal that he ends up going before Romeo. Romeo pretty much never did ANYTHING good for this franchise. Phil at least brought us Brady Quinn and more importantly Shaun Rogers.
I agree with you in that I’m surprised Romeo didn’t get axed before Savage, but when you compare Savage’s record against other GMs, he was nothing exceptional.
New regimes in ATL and MIA got those teams to the playoffs in their first year… and I think we’d agree both were in worse shape than the Browns, yet our current organization couldn’t get there in four years. Romeo has been beyond abysmal, but Savage has control of the organization, hired Romeo, and made sure he was rewarded for missing last year’s playoffs with a big ol’ contract extension.
Together, they’ve reached the the lofty height of owning the 6th worst record in the NFL over Savage’s four years (that may have changed after today’s blowout since that stat is two weeks old). Romeo certainly shares culpability, but Savage should not escape responsibility for the joke of an organization he’s created.
I really don’t think this is the best way to go. There is more talent on this team then there has been in years. It is not the GM’s fault for the coaching/gametime decisions. I’m sure the blow up earlier in the seaosn with the email didn’t help but I really think Savage has done a good job. I just hope we get word about Crennel by the end of the night.
2 things go through my mind as this happens:
1. If the organization was fine with him, but only if they talked to other potential GMs, then there’s a good chance he quit. I doubt Savage would want to go through that process after all the other stuff he’s gone through this year.
2. If Lerner did indeed fire him, then he has a plan in place with someone else, and seeing the Patriots playoff hopes dashed, he might have a plan in place with Pioli
The fact that Phil was fired before RAC is yet another point to prove how messed up this organization really is. I may be reading into it, but I think that makes a statement…and an awful one at that.
The thing that has been so sickening about this entire year is that we have talent…just no coaches that know what to do with it. Last year wasn’t a fluke. Flukes are teams like Miami or Atlanta where aside from SOME good, even great players, they have a bunch of overachievers.
Apparently there are some things going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about. I like Savage. I think he may really be a glorified talent scout, but he really is what we needed at the time.
Now we start over.
@ Rini-
After the way Savage has embarrassed himself and the organization this year… and as many times as he’s thrown his HC under the bus… how could Randy ever attract a qualified HC candidate with Savage still running the show? (indeed, Mary Kay Cabot reported that the decision was made before today’s game was played, and was due to “problems with Savage’s communications and leadership skills.”)
After what he did to Romeo… who in their right mind would come work for him?
That’s why it was done so quickly. Firing Savage was a necessary first step prior to beginning the full-on coaching search.
The only thing that surprises me is that both weren’t fired at the same time… but regardless, Savage absolutely had to go, and if Randy has any sense, Romeo will follow first thing in the morning.
@ #7 Steve: check out Savage’s draft record posted by Craig (the article posted right after this one, “Goodbye Phil Savage.”)
His overall record is mediocre, at best. We may have more talent here than when he started, but on the whole, it’s hard to argue his results would make him even an average NFL GM.
And when you look at his bottom line… he hasn’t been able to do in four years what Jeff Ireland in Miami and Tom Dimitroff in Atlanta have accomplished in less than one…
I think the only reason that Savage was let go before Crennel was due to the fact that we actually had to have a head coach yesterday. Today will be a different story…
@ mj – I don’t recall Savage throwing Romeo under the bus until their jobs were threatened. Not that it makes it right, but it was the God’s honest truth. His job IS to bring top talent in, but it is not his job to manage it and figure out how to utilize it. I have a hard time believing what the PD writes about Savage’s leadership skills. The leadership and communication problems were probably that Phil wasn’t as sensitive to RAC as he thought he should be. The Buffalo e-mail was out of line…but funny…and true.
It’s tough and unfair to match him up against Miami and Atlanta. For all we know, they will both fall flat on their faces for the next 4yrs and get canned too. Not to mention that the job of a GM is rarely accomplished in such a short time. They have the longest ramp-up period, so I see this falling back right on the coaches.
Point is, (at least in my eyes) it’s hard to judge a (any) GM during the same era as Romeo. He is a joke as a head coach. He always has been. These players have some of the most blatant disrespect for him and for Phil to be tied into that is unfair. Romeo probably isn’t even the head of his own household.
I’m mixed about the Savage firing. I’ve always said that RAC needs to go, but I think that essentially starting over–AGAIN–wouldn’t be the best way to go. There IS some talent on this team, and I’ve said that a good NFL head coach could have had this team (pre-injury binge) at 7-3 or at least 6-4 through 10 games.
I’m less concerned about the GM picking the talent as I am having a coach who understands how to utilize the strengths of the players he’s given. I want a coach who understands nuance, preparation, adjustment. Romeo has none of those traits.
And, for the record, Savage DIDN’T hire RAC… Lerner did.
In the end, was Savage and all-world GM? Doubtful. But, I think that had he had a solid NFL head coach, his overall bottom line would have been much better.
All of that having been said, Savage does have some pretty big strikes against him: he did give RAC the extension last summer, which was poor at best in terms of a move. He did have the e-mail incident. And, the team was 24-40 while he was GM….
I understand the move, I just don’t know if it’s the best move. Are we starting over again, now? When a new GM comes in, is he going to do what Savage did and tear everything down and start over again? I hope not. I think this team is some solid moves away from being a contender again, and the first move is definitely the head coach.
@Rini-
One doesn’t need to believe what the PD says about Savage’s leadership skills, just look at what we’ve seen over his four years. Why was Romeo always the one holding the pressers to explain Savage’s personnel moves? To deal with Savage’s K2 problem? To explain Savage’s infamous Buffalo email? In his four years, Savage never did anything to demonstrate his leadership, that I can recall. He was never more than a talent scout who demonstrated questionable decision making with both draft picks and FA signings.
As for ATL and MIA, maybe they do fall flat on their faces and get fire–who knows? Even if they do, it does not change the fact that they BOTH did in their first year what Romeo/Savage couldn’t even approach in four.
I agree with you that Romeo was a complete joke, but Savage’s record is just as indefensible. Two draft picks remain with the team from the 2005 draft. Five of ten from 2006. Zero pro bowl players drafted on defense. Only two second-day draft picks that have become starters over four years. He’s already given away half of our draft for this year (three of our seven picks were dealt for the likes of Beau Bell and Martin Rucker.) Pissing himself and giving DA a huge FA contract when he could have kept him for the RFA tender (I think it was $2.4 million?) And he’s destroyed the Browns salary cap in the process by overpaying for every FA or traded player he’s brought in–there will be fallout as the Browns have to pay the piper over the next two years.
“And, for the record, Savage DIDN’T hire RAC… Lerner did.”
Savage was hired Jan 6, 2005. Romeo was hired Feb 8. Lerner began the interview process immediately following the 2004 season, talking to both HC and GM candidates, but Savage did interview Romeo and was part of a consensus decision to make him his HC.
A google search turns up several articles talking about how Crennel “wowed” Savage in their talks.
And as you point out, he saw fit to reward Romeo for missing the playoffs last year with a fat new extension. If he didn’t think Romeo was his guy, that wouldn’t have happened… so he effectively decided to hire Romeo a second time via that endorsement.
In fairness, Romeo was hired on February 8th BECAUSE HIS TEAM WENT TO THE SUPER BOWL. They couldn’t have hired him a day before then. His hiring was the worst-kept secret in the NFL that year. To say that Savage “made [Romeo] HIS head coach” is a bit of a stretch. He was Lerner’s head coach.
Again, doesn’t excuse the extension, but it is what it is…
Understood about the dates, DP. I didn’t mean to be argumentative with you, just trying to dispel this myth that Romeo somehow wasn’t Savage’s guy. I’ve felt compelled to keep pointing those dates out since so many folks claim Romeo was hired “the day before” Savage, or “two weeks before”, or what have you. Yes, I know you made no such claim, it was out of habit on my part.
I agree, it did seem pretty clear that Romeo was Lerner’s top choice. But he wasn’t foisted upon Savage without his agreeing to the hire, which was presented as an organizational consensus. I don’t recall, nor can I find anywhere, anything on record implying that Savage wasn’t just as enamored with Romeo as Lerner was. The few public comments Phil made about the hiring left no question as to his opinion.
And, as we’ve both noted, the whole extension nonsense… Savage had won the power struggle in Cleveland when Lerner ousted Collins–he could have used the power to bring in a coach of his choice. Indeed, it was the decision not to fire Crennel after yr2 and the whole Mo Carthon debacle (really, was it not clear to everyone exactly what we had in a HC after the first two years?) that pushed me off the Savage bandwagon. I just can’t buy that somehow Romeo was foisted on Savage without his input, and after three years, Savage somehow still effectively hired him a second time.
You may be right, I know I wasn’t in the conference rooms in Berea at the time to know anything firsthand. =-) I just don’t see any evidence that points to Romeo not being Savage’s choice as HC, just unfounded speculation from many of the Browns faithful.
That said, if you are correct that Lerner forced his choice on Savage, then I fear our beloved team is in even worse shape than I suspected. The one good thing Randolph has going from him–besides his obscenely generous deep pockets–is that he believes in hiring the right leadership, then stepping back and not interfering. If the hiring of Romeo went down the way you suggest, and if Savage was somehow forced to endure four years working with the man without any input or approval, then the entire philosophy Randy has claimed to hold to is a sham.
[…] four weeks from the day Phil Savage was shown the way out, the Cleveland Browns have officially announced the hiring of George Kokins as their general […]