The Cleveland Browns are officially rebooting, firing head coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer on Sunday night.
CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reports Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam met with Farmer following the team's 28-12 beatdown from Pittsburgh in Week 17 and informed him of his fate.
Haslam then met with Mike Pettine at 7 p.m. ET and quickly announced the team would be moving on from the head coach.
"We greatly appreciate Ray’s and Mike’s dedication and hard work while with the Cleveland Browns. We’ve made this decision because we don’t believe our football team was positioned well for the future," Jimmy Haslam said in a statement. "We are all disappointed with where we are and we take full responsibility. We will approach the search for our next football coach and executives to lead our football operations with a clear vision regarding what we need to do to build a successful organization."
Reports emerged over the weekend about Pettine coaching his final game with Cleveland this Sunday, although Haslam reportedly wouldn't tell him his fate ahead of time.
Then Sunday morning we found out Farmer was likely done as early as Sunday evening. The Browns didn't waste any time, dumping Farmer shortly after losing to Pittsburgh to finish the season 3-13, the team's worst record since 2000.
Pettine has yet to hear his fate from Haslam but La Canfora reports he will meet with the owner this evening and (likely) be relieved of his duties as head coach.
Farmer's tenure will be remembered for multiple first-round disasters in the draft (pairing Johnny Manziel and Justin Gilbert in 2014 and Danny Shelton/Cameron Erving in 2015) as well as signing Dwayne Bowe this offseason (Cleveland paid him $1.8 million per catch) and being suspended for the first four games of 2015 because he was texting Pettine on the sideline last season.
