Why Browns 'didn’t feel a good vibe' about John Harbaugh before he accepted the Giants' job

Both the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants needed a new head coach when the Baltimore Ravens surprisingly fired John Harbaugh this past January. 

Harbaugh ultimately accepted the Giants' job and is now serving as the club's true head of football operations. For a piece published on Tuesday night, Browns reporter Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand confirmed that "Harbaugh was a natural person of interest" for Cleveland this past winter. 

The Browns didn't want to give John Harbaugh more power than Andrew Berry?

"The Browns did talk with him via phone to gauge his interest," Grossi wrote about Harbaugh. "Eventually, it was conveyed to teams that Harbaugh would command $20M a year over five years. That wasn’t a hangup with [Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam]. But Harbaugh wanted final say on personnel, and that wouldn’t jibe with Haslam’s desire to strengthen, rather than weaken, [Andrew Berry's] grip on the GM job."

Shortly after the Browns parted ways with former head coach Kevin Stefanski in January, it was made clear that Berry had been handed more authority by team ownership. To compare, some believe it is a matter of when and not if Harbaugh will dismiss current Giants general manager Joe Schoen. 

Why the Browns "didn’t feel a good vibe" about John Harbaugh

"It was also conveyed via Harbaugh’s reps, per a league source, that Harbaugh wanted any interested teams to conduct their Rooney Rule-required two in-person interviews with minority candidates before he would even agree to an interview," Grossi added. "The Giants were OK with that; the Browns didn’t feel a good vibe and withdrew from pursuing Harbaugh."

The Browns ultimately hired 60-year-old Todd Monken as their next head coach. Interestingly, Monken spent the previous three seasons serving as Baltimore's offensive coordinator under Harbaugh. According to Grossi, Monken is the third-oldest coaching hire in Browns history and the oldest first-time head coach in the NFL.

Only time will tell if Haslam will ultimately regret not doing everything possible to potentially win the Harbaugh sweepstakes. What's done is done, and Giants ownership is now hoping the NFC East club will benefit from the Browns' offseason decisions.