BROWNS NEED A LEADER MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE

By STEVE KING

We’ve all been looking at this Browns head coaching vacancy the wrong way.

I know I sure was, and I bet you were – and perhaps still are – too.

It’s why guys like Jim Schwartz, the Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator who got his start as one of Bill Belichick’s young, unknown, low-level personnel guys in Cleveland a quarter-century ago, has a real, legitimate chance to return as head coach.

The Browns, first and foremost, need a leader. They don’t necessarily need an offensive guy, as I had thought all along because the game today is so heavily an offensive one, or a defensive guy. They just need, as I said, a guy with a vision, someone who has the football sense, the common sense and a plan – and the determination and fortitude – to get the club out of the weeds they’ve been in for 20 years of this despicable expansion era.

Schwartz is a defensive guy, just like Robert Saleh, another candidate who is defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, and just like Josh McDaniels and Kevin Stefanski are offensive guys in their jobs as offensive coordinators with the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings, respectfully.

But while Schwartz and Saleh would run the defense if either one of them got the head-coaching job, or McDaniels or Stefanski would run the offense if they were hired, they would just need to be able to get someone to run the other side of the ball with as much competency.

Mike Tomlin was an unknown defensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings, certainly not someone with the resume of a Schwartz, when he was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was like Saleh, yet he has turned into one of the very best head coaches in the game. Indeed, if I had the choice of a current head coach not named Bill Belichick to take over the Browns, it would be Tomlin. Why? Because of his leadership. He has gotten people – really good ones – to coordinate the offense and defense for him. But he’s the undisputed leader of it all.

So, this Browns job is wide open – it really is – and we might just end up being surprised when it’s all over sometime this weekend.