CLEVELAND — Having just fired their head coach and with their general manager on his way out, Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and his son-in-law, J.W. Johnson, were left to conduct the team's exit interviews.
Over the course of those "25-30" meetings with what Haslam considered the team's core players, a portrait soon emerged of what the team would be looking for in its next head coach.
"Players want leadership. They really do want strong leadership, so we're looking for a strong leader one," Haslam said during a season-ending press conference team. "Someone who's smart, two. Has really good football acumen, three and will work within to organization -- OK, it's not 'my way or the highway -- will work within the organization for the best result.
"I think we want someone who's a continuous learner. Somebody who's trying to get better all the time."
As for the Browns' general manager search, Haslam said, "it's really not a whole different. The leadership piece is a little different than the head coach, but I'd say the other attributes are the same."
While Haslam didn't get into any other specifics regarding the team's searches -- other than to say it's currently focusing on candidates with previous NFL experience, which would eliminate Urban Meyer -- what he did say helped shine a light on what led to Freddie Kitchens and John Dorsey's firings.
In particular, Haslam repeatedly referenced the need for "alignment" across the team's organization, which was clearly lacking over the course of the last year. Perhaps the most obvious example of that came in the form of last year's head coaching search, in which Dorsey hired Kitchens, despite chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta reportedly preferring Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski.
"It goes back to that alignment and making sure that people are properly aligned and everybody's heading for the same goal and vision," Haslam answered when asked about the power structure in which both the head coach and general manager will report to him.
"We're going to make sure that whoever we hire as a head coach and whoever we hire as a GM is all focused on that -- about the Browns winning games, the Browns making the playoffs, etc."
As for who those people will be, some obvious candidate combos have emerged. Should the Browns hire New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, it would seem logical that he would bring a Patriots executive -- be it Dave Ziegler or Nack Caserio -- with him, while an analytics-based pairing of Stefanski with former Browns vice president of player personnel Andrew Berry (now with the Eagles) has also been floated.
For now, the Browns remain entrenched in coaching and general manager searches that could last for the majority of the NFL playoffs. But at the very least we now know what they're looking for as they embark on their quest for alignment.