Cleveland Browns CEO Joe Banner told Sports Illustrated's Peter King that hiring Chip Kelly as a head coach was a risk. Banner spoke of the siutation by stating, "We removed ourselves from the process. We really liked Chip. He's intriguing, a very different thinker, and very smart. But you could see he was uncertain what he wanted to do. He may be in Philadelphia 10 years or longer and have a terrific career. But the fact he committed to Tampa Bay last year, backed out, then seemed all year to be leaning toward going to the NFL, then being so uncertain with us, we felt it was too big a gamble. If there was no ambivalence, we may have offered him the job."
Fantasy Analysis:
Maybe Banner felt this way, maybe he did not. Either way, there's nothing wrong with having an opinion, although some people may interpret it as sour grapes since Kelly did not end up with them. The Browns have brought in Rob Chudzinski as head coach, Norv Turner as offensive coordinator, Mike Lombardi as VP of player personnel and a slew of new coaches. If some Cleveland fans are looking for a fresh start, this isn't exactly what they wanted since Turner and Lombardi were already with the organization.
