After parting ways with general manager Ray Farmer and personnel executives Bill Kuharich and Morocco Brown this week, the Browns are making an interesting addition to their front office. According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link), the team is hiring Paul DePodesta from the front office of the New York Mets, with the intention of making him an executive VP, answering only to Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and Alec Scheiner.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (via Twitter) confirms that DePodesta will be joining the Browns, though Mortensen suggests the team’s newest executive will hold the title of chief strategy officer. Either way, it’s certainly an out-of-left-field choice for the Browns, with DePedosta joining Cleveland’s new executive VP of football operations Sashi Brown in a front office that seems light on NFL experience.
Known best for the role he played in Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, as Billy Beane’s assistant general manager for the Oakland Athletics, DePedosta is considered an analytical executive, so his hiring suggests the Browns are going in a certain direction in their front office. According to Ed Werder of ESPN.com (via Twitter), DePedosta will be above Brown within the club’s organizational structure.