The Cleveland Browns are the last team left to hire a head coach, but that hiring, or decision at least, could be close. The team seems to be locked in on a defensive-minded guy, either Buffalo's Mike Pettine or Seattle's Dan Quinn.
That's the word from beat writer Mary Kay Cabot, anyway. The Browns talked to Pettine for a second time last night, and are apparently going to talk to Quinn again Wednesday morning. With Seattle in the Super Bowl, the Browns need to wrap up talks with him this week, or wait until after the Super Bowl to select their next head coach.
You probably already know that Seattle had the league's best defense last season, but Buffalo's was also very impressive. It was only 20th in terms of points allowed, but 10th in yardage -- so, a lot of the points it gave up were the result of turnovers and short fields. It also led the league in sacks for most of the season, finishing the year with 57, 2nd only to Carolina. It also recorded 23 interceptions, better than everyone but Seattle. Good defense; solid coordinator.
From a fantasy perspective, the big question is who either coach would bring in to run the offense. The Browns let Norv Turner sign with the Vikings, so they'll be starting over from scratch there. Whoever they hire will have a couple of nice receivers (Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron) but little else. No quarterback, and likely to bring in somebody at running back, despite Edwin Baker playing well in the last couple of games.
Cleveland has two first-round picks thanks to the Trent Richardson trade, so a quarterback figures to be a strong possibility for one of those picks. Perhaps Johnny Manziel? We'll see.
--Andy Richardson