Tom Heckert: Likely new GM...

[DaWolf]

According to multiple reports, if this deal gets wrapped, Heckert is in.

EDIT: Schefter reporting that Dorsey is also someone Reid wants to talk to.

Thoughts? He's no Pioli, but have his moves with the Browns left you impressed?

In the past two years, Heckert overhauled a veteran-laded roster built by Mangini and spearheaded a youth movement. The Browns finished 2012 with 29 players on their 53-man roster who were either in their first or second NFL seasons. They also had a league-high 87 combined starts from rookies this season.

Heckert acquired 17 of the Browns’ 22 starters from 2012. Of those 17 starters brought in by Heckert, he drafted the following 11: cornerback Joe Haden, defensive tackle Phil Taylor, running back Trent Richardson and quarterback Brandon Weeden (first-round picks); strong safety T.J. Ward, defensive end Jabaal Sheard, wide receivers Greg Little and Josh Gordon, a selection in the 2012 supplemental draft, offensive right tackle Mitchell Schwartz (second-round picks); right guard Shawn Lauvao (third-round pick); and strongside linebacker James-Michael Johnson (fourth-round pick).

None of the players Heckert picked for the Browns has made the Pro Bowl yet. But several seem to have bright futures.

“He’s a great general manager,” Haden said Sunday night. “I can tell by the way he drafts players. You can look and you see his draft picks are out there on the field just basically balling for the team. He drafted me. He drafted T.J. He drafted Weeden. He drafted Richardson. This is such a young team, and all of his players are out there playing. That says a lot.”

Still, not every pick has panned out as planned.

Heckert, who has Youngstown roots, let fullback Lawrence Vickers go in free agency and replaced him with Owen Marecic, a fourth-round pick in 2011. Marecic was plagued by dropped passes and lost his spot atop the depth chart in 2012. Heckert traded a third-round and two fifth-round picks in 2010 to move up in the second round to select running back Montario Hardesty, whose career has been plagued by injuries, including a torn ACL in his left knee as a rookie in 2010 and a torn calf muscle that forced him to sit out six games in 2011. The jury is still out on Hardesty, who stayed healthy in 2012.

Although Heckert bolstered several positions – perhaps most notably the defensive line – he might have failed to bring a franchise quarterback to Cleveland. In Heckert’s first two years with the Browns, they cycled through Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy. They drafted Weeden 22nd overall in 2012.

Weeden, a 29-year-old former minor-league baseball player, played 15 games and finished with a franchise rookie record 3,385 passing yards and 14 touchdowns, but he also threw 17 interceptions and posted a passer rating of 72.6. It remains to be seen whether the new regime will give Weeden another season to prove himself after an inconsistent rookie year.

Heckert’s drafts will be remembered for some blockbuster deals – including one couldn’t pull off. The Browns failed in their attempt to trade with the St. Louis Rams for the right to draft Robert Griffin III second overall in 2012.

In March, the Browns offered the Rams two first-round selections (Nos. 4 and 22 overall) and a first-round pick in 2013 for the right to draft Griffin at No. 2. The Washington Redskins, though, struck a deal by giving up their first- and second-round picks in 2012 (Nos. 6 and 39), plus a first-round choice in 2013 and another in 2014. The Browns reportedly tried to add their 2012 second-round pick (No. 37) with a second proposal, but the Rams had already decided to accept the Redskins' offer.

Then on April 26, Heckert traded picks in the first (No. 4), fourth (No. 118), fifth (No. 139) and seventh (No. 211) rounds to the Minnesota Vikings, allowing the Browns to move up to the No. 3 slot, where they nabbed Richardson. The Browns were also aggressive by picking Weeden at No. 22 because there was a chance he would have been available to them early in the second round, when they ended up taking Schwartz at No. 37.

In 2011, Heckert traded the sixth overall pick in 2011 to the Atlanta Falcons, which they used to select wide receiver Julio Jones sixth overall in 2011. In exchange, the Browns received picks in the first (27th), second (59th) and fourth (124th) rounds in 2011 and first- and fourth-rounders in 2012. Heckert then traded the 27th overall pick and a third-round selection (No. 70) to move up to No. 21, so he could take Taylor. He drafted Little with No. 59, Marecic with No. 124, Weeden with the Falcons’ first-round pick last year and traded their fourth-round choice.

http://www.ohio.com/news/top-stories...l-man-1.361661