New Browns coach Pat Shurmur joined ProFootballTalk Live today, within 30 minutes or so after word broke that he’ll be hiring former Lions and Bills coach Dick Jauron to run the defense in Cleveland.
So I asked Shurmur to confirm. Here’s what he said.
“I really don’t want to confirm that,” Shurmur said, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. (Yes, we’re crediting another media outlet for quoting our own show.) “I think it will become public and official from the Browns’ side of things very quickly. But obviously Dick’s a very, very well-respected guy in the profession, a guy that I’ve known for a long, long time. So I think that will be public at some point — the direction we’re gonna go.”
It sure looks like the Jauron hire is coming. Which would mean that the Browns likely will have to adjust their 3-4 personnel to fit Jauron’s 4-3 style.
It could be a difficult proposition, given the possibility that a lockout will wipe out the offseason program, training camp, and possibly more. "[W]e’ve got plans for that,” Shurmur said. “I think any new coach, you know there’s a little bit of a learning curve. But we intend to get our systems in. We feel as though we’ll get them taught, so we can play winning football come day one.”
We’ll be posting clips from Shurmur’s segment throughout the day. The full show can be seen by clicking the box in the upper right corner of PFT.
