Michael Lombardi

NFL Network analyst Michael Lombardi, who was scheduled to conduct his weekly interview with WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan on Friday morning, instead apparently was wrapping up his final interview with the Browns. According to a tweet from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Lombardi was named the team’s vice president of player personnel.

Lombardi previoulsy worked in player personnel for the Browns from 1987-95, serving alongside then-Browns coach Bill Belichick from 1991-95. He also has worked for the Raiders, Eagles, Rams and 49ers.

Earlier this month, the Browns hired Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski to be their next coach.

The Browns reportedly signed the second of their two first-round picks on Tuesday, inking Brandon Weeden to a four-year, $8.1 million deal.

The signing comes a day after the Browns signed third-overall selection Trent Richardson to a four-year, $20.5 million contract.

Weeden, who threw for 4,727 yards and 37 touchdowns in 2011 for Oklahoma State, was drafted 22nd overall by Cleveland in the 2012 NFL draft. The Oklahoma City, Okla. Native will battle for the starting quarterback job with Colt McCoy during training camp and the preseason this year.

At 28-years-old, Weeden is already older than the 25-year-old McCoy, who has already been in the league since being drafted in 2010. Weeden did not begin his college football career until after his five-year baseball career in which he spent time in the Yankees, Dodgers and Royals minor league systems. He did not begin his college football career until 2007, when he enrolled at Oklahoma State and was redshirted at the age of 23.

The Browns are looking to use their two first-round picks to improve their scoring offense, which was 30th in the league last season. The Browns only scored 218 points all season, which was only better than the Chiefs (212 points) and Rams (193 points).

According to ESPN.com, former Broncos head coach and Patriots assistant coach Josh McDaniels‘ talks with the Rams have hit a “significant snag.” The report suggested that McDaniels had been viewed as the front-runner to take over as offensive coordinator in St. Louis, and that the impasse in contract talks between the coach and team represented “a surprising development,” with one source suggested that negotiations “may have been derailed by the team’s conservative fiscal approach.”

The same report suggests that Seattle is now talking with McDaniels about the possibility of becoming offensive coordinator under Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

“With the firing of Jeremy Bates as Seahawks offensive coordinator, Seattle is giving strong consideration to hiring McDaniels for the vacancy, according to a source with knowledge of the situation,” the report stated.

Browns head coach Eric Mangini officially named rookie quarterback Colt McCoy the starter for the remainder of the season. Mangini announced the move on Thursday, and said that McCoy, who missed the past three games with a high-ankle sprain, chose to play this weekend after he consulted Browns president, Mike Holmgren.

McCoy will make his first start back against the Bengals after suffering the injury that kept him sidelined for three games. With three games remaining in the regular season, and the Browns officially eliminated from playoff contention, Mangini feels that McCoy has earned the opportunity to grow as a player.

“I feel he’s earned this opportunity and I want to give it to him,” Mangini said on Thursday. “I want to see how he continues to grow. This is by no stretch just throwing a young guy in just to throw a young guy in.”

The Browns’ remaining three games will be against all division opponents. The team travels to Cincinnati this weekend, and will host Baltimore and Pittsburgh, respectively.

Browns running back Peyton Hillis charged up field on an 8-yard gain during Sunday’s match up against the Buffalo Bills. It may have looked like just another hard run for the Browns offseason acquisition but with Hillis, what meets the eye may be deceiving. The run pushed Hillis past 1,000 yards rushing for the season and became the ninth member of the Browns to reach the milestone.

Entering the game, Hillis had 962 yards and was set to face Buffalo’s last-ranked rushing defense. Hillis passed the 1,000-yard mark on just his fourth carry. Near the end of the first half, Hillis has 12 carries for 72 yards, including a 25-yard scamper.

Hillis came to the Browns when the team traded former first-round pick Brady Quinn to the Broncos and received the 24-year-old running back in return. Quinn is now a third-string quarterback behind Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow while Hillis has shined in his first starting role. Along with his rushing yards, Hillis has 11 rushing touchdowns and has 436 receiving yards including  two receiving touchdowns.

Browns running back Peyton Hillis has taken the league by storm this year after a trade that will go down as the best irrelevant trade of all time. The Broncos shipped Hillis to Cleveland for quarterback Brady Quinn, a former first-round draft pick. But while Quinn sits behind Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow in Denver, Hillis has had success with the Browns, and is only 38 yards away from becoming the ninth member of the Browns all-time to reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark in a single season.

But, according to the Loraine County Chronicle-Telegram, Hillis is the last person who thinks his run this season is anything spectacular. He needs 38 yards to gain 1,000 on the season as the Browns take on the Bills, who have the worst-ranked rushing defense in the league. He would also be known as the first white running back to reach 1,000 yards in a season since Craig James did so in 1985. But Hillis told the Chronicle-Telegram that he thinks his race “doesn’t really matter.”

“I’m a human just like everybody else is a human,” Hillis said when asked about accomplishing this feat. “I don’t think race  really matters. Guys on this team look at me as a person, not as an image or a race.”

Browns coach Eric Mangini indicated on Wednesday that quarterback Jake Delhomme will likely get the start this weekend against the Panthers after rookie quarterback Colt McCoy suffered a high ankle sprain in last Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars, ProFootballWeekly.com reports.

McCoy started the last five games after Delhomme and backup Seneca Wallace both went down with injuries earlier this season. Delhomme began the year as the starter but suffered an ankle injury in the first week against the Buccaneers.

Despite the fact that Delhomme and Wallace have each missed 4-5 weeks with the same injury, Mangini does not believe that McCoy will be out as long as his teammates, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. In the five games he has played this year, McCoy has passed for 975 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 87 yards on the ground with a rushing touchdown.

After the Jets defeated the Browns in Cleveland, 26-20, in overtime, a Browns fan tackled an 8-year-old boy wearing a Jets jersey as he and his family were leaving the stadium. The boy, who was holding his father’s hand while walking out to the parking lot, was tackled from behind by an adult Browns fan, who was reportedly drunk, the boy’s mother told ABC affiliate WEWS of Cleveland.

During the game itself, fans at the stadium were “calling him a bad word, to my husband and to my son, throwing food at them,” Danielle, the boy’s mother, told WEWS. Danielle did not want her last name revealed. It was after the game that things escalated for the family.

The young boy was left crying on the ground with a scraped and bruised ankle. Danielle said that neither she nor her husband called police, because the family wanted to get out of the area as soon as possible.

The mother wrote a letter to the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the incident. Browns vice president of media relations Neal Gulkis, when reached by the television station asking for comment, called the situation unfortunate and disappointing, and said that the team is looking into the matter.

Updating a previous post, Cleveland wide receiver and kick returner Josh Cribbs dislocated all of the toes on his right foot except the big toe. After recording an electrifying 37-yard catch-and-run, Cribbs went to the locker room for X-rays and did not return to action.

“I just couldn’t get back out there,” said Cribbs, describing the play. “I was about to jump and somebody behind me stepped on my foot right as I was about to jump. They took X-rays and they just told me, ‘You’re done for the day.’ I asked them what the X-rays show, but they didn’t tell me. They just said, ‘You’re done, you’re done.’ ”

Cribbs added, “I knew I couldn’t. It doesn’t seem too serious, but it hurts.” His initial diagnosis is quite accurate, as Profootballtalk reports the dangerous receiver is expected to be fine for the upcoming game with the Jaguars.

Cleveland receiver Josh Cribbs was helped to the locker room in Sunday’s game against the Jets with a foot injury. Cribbs, the versatile kick returner and wildcat threat, caught a short pass from quarterback Colt McCoy and ran for a 37-yard gain to the New York 5-yard line. He was tackled by defender Eric Smith and was attended to by trainers before leaving the field.

Cribbs’ return to the game is listed as questionable. Cleveland currently trails 17-13 at the half against the Jets. Coming into the game, Cribbs had caught 16 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown as well as serving as a punt and kick returner.