Kosar dismisses notion that top candidates might shun Cleveland.

Bernie Kosar says Browns owner Randy Lerner is actively talking to potential football operations hires but isn’t sneaking around.

“He’s just sick being 1-11, but he’s not going to break the rules to go do stuff,” Kosar, an adviser to Lerner, said this morning on WKNR. “But if there are guys out there, you’re allowed to talk to, or teams have given permission. ... Yeah, he’s starting to look for those type guys, because we need to define especially the football operations side of the team.”

Lerner is seeking a football operations leader and perhaps entourage to help dig the team out of a cold spell that includes 17 losses in the last 18 games. Head Coach Eric Mangini’s fate probably rides on the eventual front-office hires.

WKNR host Tony Rizzo asked Kosar if it will be hard to attract quality people to a franchise that has tasted so much defeat.

“Because it’s been so bad for so long,” Kosar said, “the guys have nowhere to go but up.

“Because of (Lerner’s) reputation in the inner circle of the league ... of being able to spend and wanting to spend money, that’s one thing in the Browns favor and in his favor.

“And the other thing is, there’s 11 draft picks next year. I think Eric (Mangini) started last year with four picks. You can’t build a good team with four, five and six draft picks.

“I think there’s people who would really enjoy that challenge.”

Kosar, who quarterbacked the 1980s Browns to three AFC championship games, said he has worked more closely with Lerner in “the last month or two” than ever before. He said he does not know what his role with the team will be next year, but ...

“I really want to do football stuff,” Kosar said. “I do love it. I feel like I get it. And I do want to be involved.”

Kosar shed little light on Mangini’s future, but he made it clear that the Browns’ somewhat competitive loss to San Diego on Sunday only counts for so much.

“I try to stay away from when-I-played type of statements,” he said, “but these type (seasons) happened at times with me in my career, and I remember arguing with some front-office people because ‘we almost won a game.’ And they were happy. They thought they saved their jobs. And I wanted to throw up on ’em to be honest with you.

“College football and high school football is somewhat about sportsmanship and competition and the purity of the game. Pro football’s not. Pro football’s about winning and losing.

“Almost wins don’t count in the NFL.”

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(cantonrep.com)