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Dorsey steps down in Cleveland

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Former Browns GM John Dorsey

Cleveland Browns general manager John Dorsey resigned just two days after the team fired coach Freddie Kitchens.

Dorsey’s decision to step down came after he refused to take a reduced role within the organization that was offered to him by owner Jimmy Haslam.

Dorsey had revamped the Browns during his two seasons as GM, but his hiring of Kitchens backfired as the Browns fell well short of expectations and missed the playoffs for the 17th straight season.  That is the NFL’s longest current non-playoff drought.

The Haslems have fired five coaches and five lead football executives since buying the team from Randy Lerner in 2012.

The Browns are in the middle of a coaching search, but could find a rough road with the departure of Dorsey, who worked previously for several years in the Green Bay Packers front office.

 

McCarthy reportedly contacted by the Browns

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Mike McCarthy

According to a Toronto Sun report, the Cleveland Browns have reached out to Mike McCarthy about their head-coaching vacancy.

McCarthy was fired by the Green Bay Packers back on December 3.

Browns GM John Dorsey is familiar with McCarthy from their days working together in Green Bay.  McCarthy went 125-75-2 in his 13 seasons with the Packers, winning a Super Bowl in 2010.

The Browns also have a pair of former Packers personal people in their front office in assistant GM Eliot Wolf and Vice President of Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith.  They’re both very familiar with McCarthy’s work as well.

The Browns will consider McCarthy, but they’ll also interview interim coach Gregg Williams, who went 5-3 in his eight game stint.

 

Janis signs with the Cleveland Browns

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Jeff Janis – Photo Courtesy of Mike Clemens

Free agent wide receiver and special teamer Jeff Janis is the latest to leave the Green Bay Packers and joined the Cleveland Browns.

After four years in Green Bay, the former 7th round draft pick signed with the Browns on Friday.

Janis could get a chance as a receiver in Cleveland, but it’s most likely that his most prominent role will continue to be on special teams, where he flourished with the Packers.

In four seasons as a receiver with the Packers, Janis had 17 catches for 200 yards and a touchdown.

Cleveland, which is led by former Packers college scouting director John Dorsey as the Browns general manager, lured both Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith to join the Browns front office.  Then, the Packers traded cornerback Damarious Randall to Cleveland for backup quarterback DeShone Kizer.

 

 

 

 

Wolf is headed for Cleveland

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Eliot Wolf

When the Green Bay Packers hired Brian Gutekunst as their next general manager, they passed on Eliot Wolf.  Now Wolf is taking his expertise with him to Cleveland, joining John Dorsey and the Cleveland Browns.

Wolf was a 14-year veteran of the Packers scouting team.  He had an offer to remain with the Packers and could have joined Reggie McKenzie and Jon Gruden in Oakland as well.  But in the end, after meeting with the Browns on Tuesday, he decided that would be the best place for him.

Wolf served as the Packers director of football operations from 2016 to 2017.  He most likely would have been named as an assistant GM in Green Bay, working alongside Gutekunst.  But Wolf being passed over for the position that his father Ron Wolf once held, likely played a factor in his decision to move.

It’s not a matter of whether or not Wolf becomes a GM in the NFL some day.  It’s more a matter of when.  Wolf was qualified for the Packers opening and will continue to get other opportunities moving forward. [Read more…]

Wolf interviewing in Cleveland with the Browns

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Eliot Wolf

After being passed over for the GM job in Green Bay, Packers Director of Football Operations Eliot Wolf is interviewing with the Cleveland Browns today.

The Browns just hired John Dorsey as their new General Manager and he quickly hired another Green Bay Packers personnel executive, Alonzo Highsmith as a vice president in the personnel department.

New Packers GM Brian Gutekunst offered Wolf a prominent position to stay in Green Bay, but he may be looking to move on.

Former Packers GM Ron Wolf was not happy to see his son get passed over for the GM job in Green Bay.  he told ESPN on Sunday night, “Obviously the people up there don’t think he’s worthy or they would’ve hired him. End of discussion.”

Eliot Wolf is still under contract with the Packers and Gutekunst could prevent him from interviewing for any other NFL job except for GM.  But it appears Gutekunst would let Wolf go elsewhere, even though he’s like to see him return to Green Bay to allow the two, who have become good friends, to work together.

 

Highsmith on his way to Cleveland

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Alonzo Highsmith didn’t figure he would have been a candidate for the Green Bay Packers general manager vacancy, so he’s on his way to Cleveland where he’ll join John Dorsey in the Browns front office.  Highsmith will become the Browns Vice President of Football Operations.

Highsmith and Dorsey worked together for 13 years in Green Bay.

Dorsey left the Packers in 2012 to become the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs.  He was hired as the new GM of the Browns last month.

Highsmith has worked in the Packers’ personnel department for 19 years.  He gets credit for finding Donald Driver, a former seventh-round draft pick who went on to become the Packers’ all-time leading receiver, as well as former undrafted corner Sam Shields.

Bishop starts his free agent tour

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Desmond Bishop

Desmond Bishop

As expected, it didn’t take long for teams to start showing interest in now free agent linebacker Desmond Bishop.

Bishop broke the news himself talking to reporters Monday night and Tuesday that the Minnesota Vikings would be first on his list of teams to visit.  That visit was expected to be Tuesday, though Vikings head coach Leslie Fraizer wouldn’t confirm.

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported that Kansas City would be second on the list, if he left Minnesota without a contract.  The Chiefs hired former Green Bay Director of Football Relations and Scouting Director John Dorsey as their GM.  A few other teams have had reported interest in Bishop including the Oakland Raiders.  Oakland’s GM in Reggie McKenzie, who was in the Packers front office from 1994 to 2011.

The Packers released Bishop on Monday after 6-seasons in the league.  Bishop was set to make nearly $3.5 million in based salary in 2013.  He spent all of 2012 on the IR with a severe hamstring injury.

Zombo headed for Kansas City

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After a promising rookie season in Green Bay, outside linebacker Frank Zombo has

Frank Zombo

Frank Zombo

been hit hard by injuries.  After four seasons in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers have given up on Zombo and he’ll get his next shot with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Zombo went undrafted out of Central Michigan, yet tallied 38 tackles and 4 sacks in 13 games with the Packers in his rookie season.  He missed six games that season with a knee injury, but returned for the Super Bowl to sack Ben Roethlisberger in the Packers win.

Injuries then hit Zombo hard and he played in just 12 games with 1-sack.  The list of injuries included a broken scapula, hyperextended knee, hamstring strain.  After missing off-season workouts, the preseason and 9-regular season games, it was too late for Zombo to make much of an impact with the defense.

Joining the Chiefs, he’s re-united with former packers executive John Dorsey, who is now the general manager in Kansas City.

 

Dorsey introduced as Chiefs GM (AUDIO)

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January 14, 2013  By  Missourinet.com
The Kansas City Chiefs introduced John Dorsey as the team’s new general manager on Monday. Prior to joining the Chiefs, Dorsey most recently served as the director – football operations for the Green Bay Packers (2012), which came after 12 years as the team’s director of college scouting (2000-11).

Dorsey and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid worked together for the Packers, where Reid served as the tight ends/assistant offensive line coach (1992-96) prior to working with their quarterbacks (1997-98)

“I’m happy to be back working with John again,” Reid said. “I’ve known John for a long time, and I have a lot of respect for him. He is a talented individual with a strong work ethic. He will be a great addition to the Chiefs organization.”

Want to understand just how good of a hire this is for the Chiefs. Here are 10 players drafted by the Packers during Dorsey’s role as director of college scouting in Green Bay.

James Starks-RB (2010, 6th Round-193rd pick) B.J. Raji-NT (2009, 1st Round-9th pick) Clay Matthews-LB (2009, 1st Round-26th pick) Jordy Nelson-WR (2008, 2nd Round-36th pick) Jermichael Finley-TE (2008, 3rd Round-91st pick) Matt Flynn-QB (2008, 7th Round-209th pick) James Jones-WR (2007, 3rd Round-78th pick) A.J. Hawk-OLB (2006, 1st Round-5th pick) Greg Jennings-WR (2006, 2nd Round-52nd pick) Aaron Rodgers-QB (2005, 1st Roud-24th pick and SB XLV/NFL MVP in 2011)

AUDIO: Dorsey has witnessed the value of Coach & GM working together :26

AUDIO: Dorsey wants to be a consistent winner :23

AUDIO: Dorsey on the philosophy of taking the best available player :21

Packers’ Dorsey headed for Kansas City

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During last night’s playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers, the Chiefs announced they’ve hired Packers director of

John Dorsey

John Dorsey

football operations John Dorsey as their new General Manager.

The Chiefs will introduce Dorsey during a news conference at 2pm on Monday.

Dorsey becomes the third member of GM Ted Thompson’s football management staff to leave Green Bay in the last two years.  Reggie McKenzie left for the general manager’s job in Oakland and John Schneider left to take the general manager’s job in Seattle.

The 52-year-old Dorsey played linebacker for the Packers from 1984 to 1989 before moving into the teams personnel department.

Dorsey worked with Chiefs new coach Andy Reid during the late 90’s while Reid was an assistant coach in Green Bay.