After one season, the Cleveland Browns and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan are getting a divorce.
It was looking like a marriage that could be made in football heaven as young gun offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and young gun quarterback Johnny Manziel seemed to deserve each other. That relationship latest all but one season — and less than two full games if you count Manziel’s actual playing time.
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After rumors that a split was imminent, it appears that Kyle Shanahan and the Cleveland Browns will be going their separate ways after just a single season together.
Mary Kay Cabot dropped the bombshell last night, which was followed with further confirmation on Thursday morning by FOX Sports insider Alex Marvez.
Source tells @NFLonFOX that @Browns are parting ways with OC Kyle Shanahan after 1 season. Announcement is imminent
— Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) January 8, 2015
The move is both surprising yet seemingly fitting. The Browns started out as the darlings of the NFL, moving into first place in AFC North — in November. That’s uncharted waters for Cleveland, who hasn’t been good sine Bernie Kosar was their crazy quarterback instead of just being crazy like he is nowadays.
Shanahan was being viewed almost as some sort of wunderkind, working his magic on Brian Hoyer so magnificently that he was blocking Johnny Manziel from ever seeing the field. But once the wheels fell off, the Browns needed a scapegoat and that now appears to be Shanahan.
Friction with the coaching staff is the reason being given for the split, which isn’t a firing. Shanahan and the Browns are mutually parting ways, which seems like the same thing as being fired but it won’t have the financial ramifications that a firing would have on the Browns.
This will be the third offensive coordinator in as many years for the Browns, and if Shanahan is anything like his predecessor — Norv Turner — he’s looking at great success in his next venture. That very well could be as a head coach, as the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets are looking at him as both a head coach and a coordinator.
Then again, he could always follow his father Mike Shanahan and work with anyone from Colin Kaepernick to Jay Cutler.
For the Browns, they’ll need to find someone who can work with Johnny Manziel, as the dismissal of Shanahan likely means the end of Hoyer in Cleveland and a total turnover to the era of building Johnny Football.
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