Apparently, Scott Pioli Has Until End of Day to Accept Browns' GM Job

A year ago, the Browns, having just missed the playoffs with a 10-win season, headed into the new year with high hopes for the future. They had young, emerging stars at quarterback, wide receiver and tight end, and head coach Romeo Crennel was about to sign a contract extension for his role in the organization's turnaround.

Apparently, six months of unwatchable football is all it took to undo all that. Last Sunday, general manager Phil Savage had to turn in his Blackberry, and a day later, Crennel was kindly asked to do the same.

Now, the team has two front-office vacancies, and owner Randy Lerner wasted very little time interviewing Patriots vice president Scott Pioli to replace Savage. The two met yesterday and according to the Boston Herald, Pioli must decide today if he's going to take the job. The issue: Pioli's demands are so ridiculously high that the Browns aren't sure he's serious about leaving the Patriots.

The Browns entered yesterday's meeting prepared to make what was described by a league source as "a huge" financial offer to the Pats executive. The money might have been "huge" but apparently not everything suited Pioli. According to sources, some of his demands were impossible for any team to meet.

Taking a huge leap of faith and assuming this all works out in the next 12 hours or so, word on the street is that Pioli would want to hire Iowa's Kirk Ferentz. That doesn't mean the Browns aren't interested in New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, however; they've been granted permission to speak with Boy Wonder. And just to prove they're not buying into the Curse of the Bill Belichick Coaching Tree, they're also very interested in Eric Mangini.

Short of hiring Matt Millen and Rod Marinelli, the Browns won't be any worse off next year, but that's like saying, "Short of hiring Matt Millen and Rod Marinelli, the Lions won't be any worse off next year." Soft bigotry of low expectations, indeed, but, well, that's where we're at. Plus, it'll temper all the preseason "Browns are going to the Super Bowl!" talk and save us the embarrassment of revisiting those comments after the season.