Baltimore pro personnel director George Kokinis has been hired as Cleveland’s general manager, reuniting him with new Browns coach and close friend Eric Mangini. Kokinis, who began his NFL career as an intern in the Browns’ operations department in 1991, was hand-picked by Mangini, who recommended him during his first interview with Browns owner Randy Lerner on Dec. 30. Determined to match a coach and GM who can work well together after the Romeo Crennel-Phil Savage relationship failed, Lerner is teaming up a pair of friends who shared an apartment when they first broke into the league and have remained tight. With Baltimore, Kokinis was one of Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome’s top aides. He was responsible for analyzing rosters, evaluating the free-agent market and assisting in the negotiations of draft picks. The Browns should benefit by Kokinis’ intimate knowledge of the AFC North. He worked as an advance scout with the Ravens and played a key role in their week-to-week assessment of their upcoming opponent.One of the first decisions facing the Mangini-Kokinis team will be what do with quarterback Derek Anderson, who was benched midway through the season for Brady Quinn. Anderson is owed a $5 million roster bonus in March. If he is deemed expendable, the Browns could trade him for draft picks. Savage dealt several 2009 picks, leaving the Browns with only four selections in this April’s draft.
Kokinis will be in town tomorrow to be introduced as the next GM of the Cleveland Browns.
Rob Trautman
Primetime Sports/BlogTalk Radio
Courtesy of the AP
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment