Tony Grossi, ESPN Cleveland 7y

Browns fans might adopt Falcons as rooting interest in Super Bowl LI

Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.

Bon voyage: Many years ago I started a tradition of itemizing players, coaches and executives who reached the given season’s Super Bowl after passing through Cleveland with the Browns.

The original point was to localize my coverage at the Super Bowl, not to rub it in to the Browns. But as the list grew longer and longer, the overall effect seemed to demoralize fans, readers and the organization. So I stopped keeping the list.

But it’s impossible to ignore the ex-Browns -- and in two cases, the near-Browns -- who advanced to Super Bowl LI in Houston by virtue of the Atlanta Falcons’ 44-21 demolition of the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game.

The Ex-Browns

1. Center Alex Mack: His exodus was the product of repeated losing and two management blow-ups in the span of three seasons.

Early in 2014, the Browns put a full-court press on Mack in hopes of signing him and averting free agency. Owner Jimmy Haslam led a contingent to Mack’s home on the West Coast, which included new GM Ray Farmer, new coach Mike Pettine, line coach Andy Moeller and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Also present was lead contract negotiator Sashi Brown. The idea was to leave with an agreement in principle to keep Mack with the Browns. Mack didn’t fall for it.

So Farmer, in his first major act as GM, was confronted with Mack’s impending free agency. He decided to utilize the seldom-used transition tag, which allowed Mack to seek an offer from another team.

The Jacksonville Jaguars did sign Mack to an offer sheet, and the Browns exercised their right to match under the transition tag rules. But Mack’s agent, the venerable Marvin Demoff, included a clause that enabled Mack to void the deal after two years and become an unrestricted free agent.

After two years, Mack was tired of the losing, the management blow-ups, the coaching changes, the offensive system changes, and no progress in identifying a winning quarterback. He bolted to the Falcons for $28.5 million guaranteed in a five-year deal for $45 million.

2. Wide receiver Taylor Gabriel: The 5-foot-8, 165-pound undrafted free agent from Abilene Christian was a success story in the Browns’ 2014 season. He averaged 17.3 yards on 36 receptions and 24.0 yards on four kickoff returns. The following year, his receiving average fell to 8.6 yards on 28 catches and he wasn’t used on returns.

After the coaching change to Hue Jackson, the Browns drafted four receivers and converted Terrelle Pryor from quarterback to receiver. There was room for one more slot and that came down to Gabriel versus Andrew Hawkins. Hawkins was a favorite of Jackson’s going back to their days together with the Cincinnati Bengals, and Gabriel was released at the final cut.

Atlanta immediately signed Gabriel. He averaged 16.5 yards on 35 yards with six touchdowns, and also scored on a long run.

3. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan: As Pettine’s first coordinator, he implemented an effective zone-blocking running game that helped quarterback Brian Hoyer lead the team to a 7-4 record.

Behind the scenes, however, Farmer was texting lackeys on the sideline during games to undermine coaches and non-football executives in love with Johnny Manziel undermined Hoyer. After an 0-5 meltdown, Shanahan bypassed Pettine and argued for his contract release in a scathing power-point presentation in front of Haslam.

Shanahan joined Atlanta coach Dan Quinn in 2015, and then had a major influence in the pursuit of Mack and the signing of Gabriel.

The Near-Browns

1. Wide receiver Julio Jones: Heading into the second year of the Mike Holmgren regime, the Browns made another coaching change (to Pat Shurmur) and decided they needed new bodies to populate their roster. Although this was before the introduction of analytics to the organization, the premise was the same -- acquire extra draft picks to select young players and jumpstart a new regime.

So GM Tom Heckert decided to trade the No. 6 pick in the draft to Atlanta for five picks -- the Falcons’ Nos. 1, 2 and 4 picks in 2011 and Nos. 1 and 4 in 2012.

Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff used the Browns’ first-round pick on the physically elite Alabama receiver. He was actually criticized heavily in Atlanta for over-paying. The Browns received local and national hurrahs for accumulating wonderful assets in the draft.

Ultimately, the Browns parlayed the five draft picks into nose tackle Phil Taylor, receiver Greg Little, fullback Owen Marecic, and quarterback Brandon Weeden. The final No. 4 pick was included in a deal with Minnesota to move up one spot in the first round to select running back Trent Richardson.

None of the five players is still with the Browns, of course. Jones is arguably one of the top three receivers in the NFL.

2. Head coach Dan Quinn: After the Browns made Rob Chudzinski a one-and-done coach following the 2013 season, their erratic search for a successor resulted in finalist candidates of Quinn, the Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator, and Mike Pettine, the Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator.

Quinn was unavailable until after the Super Bowl. A week before the game, Pettine informed the Browns that he wanted a decision on him as a courtesy to the Bills. Owner Jimmy Haslam blinked and hired Pettine.

Quinn was hired by the Falcons the following 2015 season. He hired Shanahan as offensive coordinator and went 8-8 in 2015 and 11-5 in 2016. At NFL owners meetings in 2015, Quinn said that if he would have been hired as Browns coach, he had an agreement to bring Shanahan as offensive coordinator.

Now, they’re both in Super Bowl LI, along with Mack, Gabriel and Jones.

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