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Cleveland Browns: Mike Pettine Versus Ray Farmer

By Zac Wassink

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Roses are red. Violets are blue. The Cleveland Browns are apparently dysfunctional, but that is something that you probably already knew. The latest story of such issues hovering over the Browns hit the Internet on the morning of July 21 when veteran beat man Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland reported of a supposed “tug-of-war” between Cleveland head coach Mike Pettine and Browns general manager Ray Farmer. This latest rift in that relationship, according to Grossi, centers around the dismissal of director of player engagement of Dr. Jamil Northcutt.

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You, random Browns fan, probably don’t know about Jamil Northcutt, nor should you. The guy does not even have his own Wikipedia page. Odds are that you are, however, familiar with Mr. Grossi and with his history of reporting what could generously be referred to as outlandish stories that have since disappeared into the void of space known as the Internet without them ever coming close to being verified with any real evidence. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that Grossi has it right and that Pettine and Farmer are on different pages of the same book.

Is it really that shocking that those two personalities have butted heads?

To have a grasp on what has gone down in Berea over the past couple of years, one must first go back to the final morning of the 2013 National Football League regular season when it was leaked that the Browns would be parting ways with head coach Rob Chudzinski regardless of what occurred during the last game of the year. What followed was a coaching search that featured the first- and second-tier candidates of the Browns all passing for other gigs. Ben McAdoo, for example, chose to become a coordinator with the New York Giants rather than interview with the Browns.

The situation was a mess.

Enter lifelong defensive coach Mike Pettine, who was serving as a coordinator with the Buffalo Bills and who was not even on the radar of the Browns at the end of 2013. The man willing to work as head coach of a franchise that had not experienced a winning season since 2007 won pockets of fans over with his no-nonsense attitude that he displayed in his introductory press conference. Owner Jimmy Haslam, meanwhile, was so enthralled by the coaching search that he blew up the team’s front office and then named assistant general manager Ray Farmer as GM soon after the ink dried on Pettine’s Cleveland contract.

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The relationship between Pettine and Farmer, assuming that rumors accepted to be truth are accurate, first hit a bump in the road on the night of May 8 and the opening of the 2014 NFL Draft. Pettine, as the story goes, got his man in top-rated cornerback Justin Gilbert after the Browns traded down in the first round. Cleveland moved back up later in the first round to acquire quarterback and college football sensation Johnny Manziel, a decision made by Farmer upon realizing that Manziel was not going to fall to the second round and the next evening.

That arrangement worked out like a poorly-conceived violent version of Rochambeau for Pettine and Farmer in that there were no real winners, only losers. As much of a mess as Manziel became in the 7+ months that followed the draft, Gilbert was even more of a disaster because he played more and was supposed to be an immediate contributor on defense. Gilbert instead looked thoroughly lost at times, he struggled showing up for team activities on time, and he was in Pettine’s doghouse multiple times and deactivated for the final game of the year.

It was Pettine, meanwhile, who insisted on not giving Manziel a true chance to win a quarterback battle against veteran journeyman Brian Hoyer during training camp and the preseason. It was Pettine who failed to reel Manziel in during the summer and fall months when the rookie quarterback was, by his own admissions, not doing enough to learn how to be a starting NFL quarterback. It was Pettine who allowed then-Browns offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan to hang Manziel out to dry with a terrible gameplan when the rookie faced the Cincinnati Bengals.

Farmer, on the other hand, has been the recipient of praise from fans and football insiders for the job that he has done in building up the roster of the Browns since February 2014. Along with acquiring veterans such as Karlos Dansby and Donte Whitner in free agency, Farmer landed talents Joel Bitonio, Christian Kirksey, Terrance West, Danny Shelton, Cameron Erving, Duke Johnson, Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and others in draft classes. The balance of power seemed to be in favor of Pettine; that is until the “Textgate” scandal saw the light of day.

Farmer being suspended for four regular season games is, on its own, a non-story, as a general manager should be nothing more than a secondary figure at best during midweek game preparations. It is the idea that Farmer was sending messages to coaches behind the back of Pettine during games that offered proof that the two are far from being in sync. You can be sure that New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese is not going around head coach Tom Coughlin in attempts to push certain agendas during games. The notion itself is ridiculous.

So who wins in this debacle? Pettine was never hired by Farmer, while Farmer was the hand-picked choice of Haslam. Add in that NFL experts have lauded Farmer for his last two draft classes, and early returns seem to show that it is Pettine who is on the hot seat as the open of training camps looms ahead; unless, of course, Farmer manages to further embarrass himself, Haslam and the Browns over the next several months. With every winner comes a loser, and the loser in this case is a familiar one as it pertains to the Browns.

Cleveland fans will, as usual, lose out if the Browns have another lackluster season. Both Pettine and Farmer owe those customers better starting with the first week of the upcoming regular season.

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