Mike Holmgren is confident that former Vikings head coach Brad Childress is the right man for the Browns’ offensive coordinator position.

“Brad’s an outstanding coach,” the Browns’ president said on the team’s radio show Wednesday night on ESPN850 WKNR.

“I’ve known him a long time. When I first met him, I had just arrived in Green Bay and Brad was on the staff at the University of Wisconsin with Barry Alvarez and he had been friends with [Eagles coach] Andy Reid and so we knew some people and became pretty close. So that’s about 20 years ago. [We had a] connection over the years because he worked for Andy in Philadelphia and Andy and I are very close.

“I thought he did a really great job in Minnesota in an unusual set of circumstances at the end. He came close to going to the Super Bowl. He’s an excellent football coach, a very bright guy, knows how to coach quarterbacks. He’s a tough guy, he demands a lot and I think it was a great hire for Pat [Shurmur].”

Now that the 2011 season is officially over following the Super Bowl, now we can all look ahead to free agency.

The Browns have a number of players that will be unrestricted come March 13th when they can sign with other teams. You can see the complete list below, and give your thoughts about what players the team should keep, and what ones they could let go.

Exclusive Rights Free Agents (4)

WR Jordan Norwood
DE Marcus Benard
DT Brian Schaefering
LB Titus Brown

Unrestricted Free Agents (11)

RB Peyton Hillis
TE Alex Smith
OT Oniel Cousins
OL John Greco
OL Artis Hicks
OL Steve Vallos
LB D’Qwell Jackson
CB Mike Adams
CB Dimitri Patterson
K Phil Dawson
P Brad Maynard

Cleveland’s City Council approved a $5.8 million lump sum for repairs to Cleveland Browns Stadium on on Monday.

The Browns plan to spend $1.2 million for refurbishing club seats, $750,000 to waterproof the concrete under those seats with most of the money going to for replacement and repair concrete on interior ramps and walkways and a plaza outside the stadium.

The city, which owns the stadium, is only required to provide $850,000 per year for stadium improvements. The sum comes from the city’s sin tax on alcohol and tobacco sales and the agreement reached Monday frees the city from repair obligations for the next seven years.

“We own Cleveland Browns Stadium,” Ken Silliman, Mayor Frank Jackson’s Chief of Staff, said on Monday. “When you own a building and a few years go by, it starts to develop needs. It’s just like when you own a home.”

The Browns have a new offensive coordinator – and he’s already pretty tight with coach Pat Shurmur.

Shurmur hired former Minnesota coach Brad Childress as his first offensive coordinator on Friday, reuniting two coaches who spent seven seasons together on Andy Reid’s staff with the Eagles.

Childress spent nearly five seasons with the Vikings before he was fired in 2010. He’ll take over a Browns offense that scored just 218 points last season, finished 29th in yardage, 28th in rushing and 24th in passing.

Shurmur served as both head coach and coordinator during his first season in Cleveland. It’s not yet known if Childress, who recently interviewed for Tampa Bay’s head coaching job, will call plays for Shurmur.

The 55-year-old Childress was Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator from 2003-05 when Shurmur coached the Eagles quarterbacks. While he was with the Eagles, Childress went to three straight NFC title games and the Super Bowl in 2004.

Childress went 39-35 in four-plus seasons with the Vikings, taking them to the playoffs three times.

He was fired after 10 games in 2010, one season after he famously picked up quarterback Brett Favre at the airport, received a contract extension and came within a field goal of reaching the Super Bowl.

The Browns have hired Tim Hauck as their defensive backs coach.

Hauck is best remembered as the player who tackled Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin and caused Irvin’s career-ending spinal cord injury in a game back in 1999.

Hauck worked coaching the defensive secondary for the University of Montana. In 2008, he was hired by UCLA to coach the team’s defensive secondary. In 2009, Hauck went to the Titans to coach their defensive secondary.

“I want to be in Cleveland,” he said. “If it’s the franchise tag, it’s the franchise tag. As long as I still have my health, that’s what is most important.” Jackson should drawn plenty of interest during the offseason but it’s hard to assume that teams will be offering him a long-term deal.

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Family parties around the NFL have always been a staple in my family. My first memory from a family party was Super Bowl XVII on January 30th 1983.

While that was fun, finally in 2006 it was my turn to host my first Super Bowl party, a bash complete with food, games, and the two best teams that season in the league.

The menu was pretty basic, yet effective. Pizza, wings, pasta, red potatoes, a veggie and cheese tray, and even fruit salad. The party kicked off with some squares, a football tradition, and even some football bingo with some small prizes for those lucky enough to take home a game. Finally at 6:25pm, it was kickoff of Super Bowl XL.

While I have gone back and watched the game probably about 3-5 times, the real memories of that party is not the game, but the fact that it was all about the people that attended.

We had a number of people rooting for both teams, so the game vibe was pretty solid, which was a cool element to the party. Add to the fact the game was close, there was a lot of rooting during the contest.

There was a healthy mix of people that included relatives and friends. The conversation during the game centered not just on football, but on the holidays that had passed just a few weeks before, new jobs, new relationships, and even about other sports like baseball and basketball.

That’s the best part about football parties. It’s the games, the food, and most important, the people that make the game great, like the family and friends you spend it with.

Browns fans have had to sit back and watch a ton of other teams celebrate Super Bowl parties for all the other teams in the league. While folks in Cleveland can throw some massive parties, I can only imagine the parties if the team can finally make it to the dance in the next few seasons!

February 6th is another chance to create memories at yet another Super Bowl party, and now there’s a perfect way to figure out just who to invite!

Visa has come out with the Visa’s YOU+TEN Draft app, and it’s a perfect way to have some fun figuring out who to invite over for the big game on the first Sunday in February, or if your actually lucky enough to win the sweepstakes – WHO to take to the game!

Super Bowl XLVI – another chance to create that connection with family and friends once again. Don’t miss out on it.

Disclosure: We received compensation from Visa for sharing our views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely ours, not Visa or the NFL’s. For more information about Visa’s YOU+TEN Draft App, please visit:
http://www.facebook.com/VisaNFL?sk=app_259824094080710

The Browns have added a senior offensive assistant, as the team today announced the hiring of Nolan Cromwell. The 56-year-old will take the spot of Keith Gilbertson, who retired after holding the title of senior offensive assistant last season.

Cromwell was with the Rams the last two seasons as the teams wide receivers coach.

He played with the Rams as an All-Pro safety, and after his playing days ended he coached special teams with the Rams (1991) before spending six seasons as the special teams coordinator on Mike Holmgren’s coaching staff with the Packers.

He moved to receivers coach in 1998 before following Holmgren to the Seahawks, where he coached the receivers until 2007. After a two-year stint as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, Cromwell rejoined the Rams organization as a wide receivers coach in 2010, working with then-offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who is now the Browns head coach.

The Browns failed to score much in 2011, putting up their lowest point total since 2000. Today, with free agency and the draft still to come this offseason, we take a look at some of the spots the Browns should focus in on to improve on.

1. Wide Receiver – Many people are on the bandwagon of the team picking WR Justin Blackmon with the 4th overall pick in the draft – and why not? He’s the playmaker the team sorely needs, as right now the club is sorely lacking in that area. Josh Cribbs and Greg Little are nice wide outs, but let’s be real, they are never going to scare a team. Right now no one on this team can go downfield and catch passes.

2. Quarterback - Yes, the position that the Browns never seem to get right. Colt McCoy is a nice person, and a nice player, but he’s never going to get this team to a Super Bowl. Could Robert Griffin III get them there? Right now I think people would love to find out. He’s the game-changer that the Browns could need, but it’s not really in the makeup for the Browns to take him – but they really should think about it if he’s there.

3. Linebacker – This is the team that passed on LB’s in the past few years like Clay Matthews Jr. and Rey Maualuga, and now it’s an area they really could use an upgrade. D’Qwell Jackson is the best player on the team in that position, but he can’t play all the spots for the LB’s, and he himself is getting older and has been hurt. The team needs to use at least 1-2 spots in the draft or free agency on this position.

4. Cornerback - Joe Haden has been a nice pickup for the team, but they need another player on the corner, as Sheldon Brown is not the long term answer. Plus Haden didn’t play nearly as well after he suffered a knee injury. They could use a high draft pick on a CB, and he could sit behind Brown for a season before joining Haden as a starter in 2013 or maybe in the second half of 2012.