You never know

If the Browns surprise just about everyone and name Jim Schwartz their new head coach, it will pretty much seal the notion Jimmy Haslam III is the dumbest owner in the National Football League.

Schwartz, who interviewed for the job Wednesday, is a retread and right now, the Browns do not need a retread. At least one with a losing background. Ron Rivera and Mike McCarthy, who landed with Washington and Dallas, are retreads, but both have winning backgrounds.

The Browns need new blood, a new approach, a new outlook, a new everything in an effort to break free from the losing stranglehold that has dogged this forlorn franchise since 1999.

Schwartz, who began his pro football career as a personnel scout and researcher for Bill Belichick and the original Browns a generation ago, is not the answer. Mediocrity has followed him throughout his career since then.

The only thing going for him is journeying around the league a time or two, plugging into the ins and outs on how things work. The best he could do in that capacity, though, was a five-year stint as the boss with the Detroit Lions.

Other than that, he has bounced from Baltimore to Tennessee to Buffalo and finally Philadelphia, where he currently coordinates the Eagles’ defense.

There is a reason no one has given him a second chance. It’s the 29-52 record and just one post-season appearance he hung up with the Lions. He is a much better defensive coordinator than head coach.

You can argue Josh McDaniels, currently in the mix to succeed Freddie Kitchens, fits the same profile. He bombed in Denver. The difference with him, however, is other teams have come after him for the top job.

The Indianapolis Colts tapped him two years ago to be their head coach, but he changed his mind at the last minute and remained as offensive coordinator with New England.

It’s entirely possible he, too, might be a better coordinator than head coach. But working with a general manager he is being permitted to choose and be comfortable with, as will be the case with the Browns, might make a difference.

How and why Schwartz’s name ever popped up on the Browns’ radar to begin with is a mystery. After the Browns rummaged around and came up with nine names at the beginning of the hunt, all but one associated with offense, his name suspiciously appeared late.

The only plausible guess – and that’s what it is, a guess – is the Browns reportedly would love to bring back Andrew Berry, their vice president of player personnel from 2016 to 2018 who left to become vice president of football operations for the Eagles, and pair him with Schwartz.

Connect two members of the Eagles family in Cleveland – Berry as general manager to replace John Dorsey and Schwartz as head coach to replace Kitchens – to form the alignment Haslam seeks in his front office.

In his season-ending news conference, the owner pounded the notion alignment was his biggest goal in his never-ending search for the right formula that will produce positive results. The Berry-Schwartz tandem is one possible connection to that end.

It would mirror the McDaniels-Nick Caserio or Dave Ziegler scenario most insiders seem to believe is a possibility should Haslam opt for a Patriots tandem, er, alignment.

Kevin Stefanski, a semifinalist with Kitchens last year at this time, interviewed Thursday. McDaniels interviews for the job Friday. And then the selection committee heads for the dungeon to make its final decision.

Best guess right now is McDaniels gets the nod unless he flunks his interview. In that case, Stefanski would be the man with Schwartz a distant third. But with this crew, just about anything is possible. The key phrase for them?  You never know.