Joe Banner has found his way back into an NFL front office. After stepping down as Eagles president back in April, he was replaced by Don Smolenski, but stayed on the team as a “strategic advisor”. But after rumors began to swirl that Browns owner Randy Lerner wanted to sell the team, Joe Banner's name has been linked to the organization as a member of a new ownership group. Randy Lerner's sale of the Cleveland Browns to Jimmy Haslam III for $1 billion is waiting league approval, but both sides have agreed upon the sale price.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Joe Banner will be joining the Browns new Ownership group, and Clark Judge of CBSsports.com reports that two league sources have told him that Joe Banner will be the team's new President.
However, the addition of Banner comes at the subtraction of another former member of the Eagles front office, Tom Heckert. After spending 8 seasons in Philadelphia, Heckert moved on to become the Browns General Manager. But Judge's source went on to say that the Browns are, “Going to blow the whole place up”, and that means the removal of Heckert and current team president Mike Holmgren, who has been with the Browns since 2010.
When leaving the Eagles, Banner had said he was, “looking for a new challenge”, and he has certainly found one in Cleveland. The Browns went 4-12 in 2011, and were 24th in the league in Passing yards, and 28th in Rushing yards. Also, new rookie Quarterback Brandon Weeden will be taking the reins from Colt McCoy, and will certainly have quite the learning curve.
The two teams actually meet twice this upcoming season. Philadelphia and Cleveland play in a preseason matchup on August 24th, as well as the season opener on September 9th. Both games are in Cleveland.
Jake Pavorsky is a contributor to Eagledelphia. You can follow him on Twitter @JakePavorsky
