CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Browns plan to begin interviewing candidates for their general manager opening on Friday.
Eagles vice president of football operations Andrew Berry and Patriots director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort will meet with team officials a source confirmed to 92.3 The Fan.
Vikings vice president of player personnel/assistant general manager George Paton is also expected to receive an interview, but it is unclear when that will take place.
Paton, who has spent the last 13 years in Minnesota’s front office, seems like the perfect fit for new head coach Kevin Stefanski, but Stefanski made it clear he wants to make sure the team finds the right football executive for him and the team.
“We know this, if we are plowing in the same direction, we got a chance,” Stefanski said. “I think as we sit down and start bringing in some candidates and interviewing general manager candidates - it sounds simple, but let's all be on the same page. Let's all know that this thing is about a shared vision. It is not about what Kevin Stefanski wants for the Cleveland Browns. We have a vision of what this is going to look like moving forward and it is a collective vision.”
Berry served as one of a few vice presidents of player personnel for three years from 2016-2018 with the Browns before joining Philadelphia’s front office last year.
“I think it would be unfair to Andrew and any of the other candidates to comment on them right now,” owner Jimmy Haslam said Tuesday. “I will say this. We have begun the GM process. We will work through it just like we did the coach process. The only difference is Kevin will be involved. The search committee will go from four members to five and I do not want to say how long it will take. The important thing is to get it right, so we will focus on that.”
Ossenfort worked his way up from personnel assistant to area scout, national scout and assistant director of college scouting over 15 seasons with the Patriots.
The Browns are searching for a replacement for John Dorsey after the two sides agreed to mutually part ways Dec. 31 after Dorsey declined a modified role within the front office.
One of the first tasks for the new GM will be to decide the fate of assistant general manager Eliot Wolf and vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith.
“Well I think the GM will certainly have some say in his entire football operations staff,” DePodesta said Tuesday, “but I will tell you that Eliot and Zo, they were very helpful in the head coach search over the last couple of weeks. They are right now grinding away on the draft and even helping out with the assistant coach work. They have been terrific.”
