Saying QBs appear 'ruined,' former GM Phil Savage unloads on new regime: Browns Insider

By Mary Kay Cabot
October 28, 2009, 6:16PM

BEREA, Ohio -- Former Browns GM Phil Savage criticized the new regime to his hometown newspaper Wednesday -- and could be in breach of his Browns contract.

Without naming names, Savage, now a color analyst on radio broadcasts for Alabama football, said current leadership has seemingly ruined the quarterbacks and dismantled what Savage was trying to build. The two top football decision-makers are, of course, head coach Eric Mangini and General Manager George Kokinis, who worked with Savage as underlings on Bill Belichick's staff in the early 1990s.

"You don't take a lot of solace in watching a place you leave go downhill further," Savage told the Mobile (Ala.) Press Register. "But they took what we did have going there and they just dismantled that even further.

"We left two quarterbacks behind that both seem ruined right now. They traded a lot of players out of there. I feel for the guys we brought in because they're good players and good people and they're stuck in a situation and can't get out for at least the time being."

When Savage was fired on Dec. 28, 2008, he still had four years remaining on a contract running through 2012. Terms of his severance deal were not disclosed, but it was believed to be somewhere around $2 million a year. Typically, contracts contain language prohibiting former employees from making disparaging remarks about the team while they're still getting paid.

An email to owner Randy Lerner regarding Savage's remarks was not immediately returned. But the Browns are probably more concerned about turning around their 1-6 record than anything Savage, who went 24-40 here, has to say.

Thanks for posting a very old article... Gee dude, keep up wit the times.

Yeah wow that article is all of 7 days old so why don't you tell everyone what the update is on that story and what is going on since that article.

Savage may not have been the best, but he did get good players for the Browns. It would seam that Mangini wants to be king AND God in his handeling of the Browns. Last years draft was a joke. I do not trust him with the 11 picks in the upcominmg draft. Apparently if you don't kiss his feet, you won't be playing in Cleveland. I see why the Jets got rid of him. Why did he bring all the washed up Jets here in the first place? Hiring Mangini was a mistake. Let's hope Lerner fires him after this season, if not sooner. The problem is, who do you get to replace him now? Who would want to come to the Browns as a coach or player with this idiot in charge. The Indians and Browns are in serious trouble for years to come. That is a real shame.