CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns are more than three weeks into their search for a new general manager to replace John Dorsey, who was dismissed in the days following the 2019 season, but the pool of candidates dwindled by one Friday.
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network and NFL.com, the Browns’ pursuit of Minnesota Vikings assistant general manager George Paton has come to an end, a decision that was not made by the franchise.
“Vikings assistant GM George Paton has pulled himself out of the running for the Browns’ GM job, source said,” Pelissero wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon. “The search continues.”
RELATED | Report: Former Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens ‘not a lock’ to join New York Giants staff
Paton had a second interview with the Browns earlier this week, but apparently, the two parties were not able to agree on a shared vision for the franchise.
To this point, the Browns have interviewed Paton, New England Patriots director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort and Philadelphia Eagles executive Andrew Berry for their vacancy, and it was reported last week that Berry had reservations about taking the job because of what happened in the past.
The Browns have had near constant turnover since the end of the 2015 season.
After parting ways with GM Ray Farmer and coach Mike Pettine following a 3-13 season in 2015, the Browns turned over control of the 53-man roster to their former general counsel, Sashi Brown, and he embarked on a complete teardown and rebuild of the team.
Brown’s rebuilding efforts resulted in a 1-31 record over the 2016 and 2017 seasons and he was dismissed with four games remaining in 2017, only to be replaced by someone with a football-heavy background in Dorsey.
Following the dismissal of Freddie Kitchens after the team posted a disappointing 6-10 record in the 2019 season, Dorsey and the Browns mutually parted ways.
The Browns are on their fifth head coach (Rob Chudzinski, Pettine, Hue Jackson, Kitchens, and now, Kevin Stefanski) and fifth general manager (Michael Lombardi, Farmer, Brown, Dorsey and to be decided) in the seven-plus years the Haslam family has owned the team.
A lack of discipline derailed the Browns’ hopes to break the NFL’s longest active playoff drought, which now stands at 17 consecutive years dating back to the 2003 season. The Browns last qualified for the playoffs during the 2002 season.
In addition to missing the playoffs for the 17th straight time, the Browns finished the 2019 season with a sub .500 record for the 12th consecutive year. The Browns last finished above .500 when they had a 10-6 record in 2007.