Cleveland Browns Expected to Fire GM Ray Farmer

According to multiple reports, Cleveland Browns General Manager Ray Farmer is expected to be fired on “Black Monday” after just two years on the job. Black Monday would be the day after the final regular season game when most NFL teams make their major coaching and front office decisions.

Head Coach Mike Pettine on the other hand is expected to be retained for another season. Farmer’s expected firing comes as the Browns head towards their eighth sub-five hundred season at 3-12.

With the 3-12 record heading into the final week of the season, the Browns are expected to be drafting within the top five picks. Following another loss this week, they sit at the number two overall slot. The team is expected to select a quarterback with that early first round pick. The early favorites thus far among draft experts are Cal’s Jared Goff and Memphis’s Paxton Lynch.

Farmer’s draft day decisions have long been questioned, primarily selecting Johnny Manziel in the first round over Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr. That selection cost Cleveland a third round pick and has clearly not played out well for both parties.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports has suggested that Eliot Wolf, the son of Ron Wolf and current Packers Director of Player Personnel, is a strong candidate for the Cleveland job should it become available.

The interesting note coming out of this report is that Mike Pettine is expected to keep his job. With all of the issues and instability at the quarterback position the past two seasons, many expected a change going into 2016. While Pettine did have a productive year (from Browns standards) in 2014 when they went 7-9, we haven’t seen the spurt of success they showed when they were 7-4.

For now, it looks like Pettine will keep his job and have the opportunity to mentor a rookie quarterback. The future for Johnny Manziel though is still up in the air.