Pat Shurmur favorite for Browns head coaching job

There are a lot of connections between Cleveland Browns President Mike Holmgren and St. Louis Rams Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur. While those connections make him the favorite to win the Head Coaching job in Cleveland, this also seems to be a very good move. Shurmur is the man that helped turn around the St. Louis offense and help rookie QB Sam Bradford develop into a legitimate NFL talent. Since the Browns have a young developing QB of their own having a guy like Shurmur lead this team makes all kinds of sense.

Now we need to mention that Shurmur’s Uncle, Fritz Shurmur was Holmgren defensive coordinator in Green Bay. He also happens to have the same agent as Holmgren. Some of that makes this look like a crony hire, but given what Shurmur has done with the Rams I really like what he brings to the table. Let us not forget he was Donovan McNabb’s QB coach with the Eagles, and he certainly had a big impact on his career.

It looks like Former Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox is the fall back candidate for this job, but given the fact that both Holmgren and Shurmur have the same agent I see a deal getting done very quickly. Probably much like the deal Ron Rivera got to coach the Panthers. If Shurmur is the man, then the sooner this gets done the better. Let us not forget he still has to build his staff.

Related Links:

• Cleveland Browns news and notes
• The Business of the NFL
• Joshua Lobdell.com