DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Savage Interviewed by James Donovan

No breaking news, but it is interesting to hear Savage's take on things.

Here is the link to the video:
web page

I wish James had followed up on a couple of comments. I found it interesting when Savage noted "two potential starting caliber QBs". Also cool to hear he has the cahons to move up into the first again.

This dude has us in the INTELLIGENT right direction....

Pis and Moan all u want Vers...

There isn't a damn thing he said that we can't agree on...

The dude has BALLS...Give ANOTHER #1 for a player u covet???...GO 4 IT SAVAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Chop "D"...Thanks...

real nice interview... I love listening to him talk to try and figure out a bit more about what is going on inside his head.

You got that right DnD. If there's someone we like we'll do the same thing as last yr and not look back.

nordawg

Nice interview. Thanks for posting it Go Brownies!!!

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Pis and Moan all u want Vers...

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Where did that come from?

Thanks for the read. It would be interesting to see who Savage may be willing to move up for.

thanks for the link- good interview.

What i got from it is:
He wants DA back for another year, he keeps saying this over an over in every interview since the season ended. Sounds like he wants a 3 year deal. He is not afraid of leaving Quinn on the bench another year- referred to Rivers sitting in SanDiego for two years.
Lewis signing is a must and he thinks it will get done prior to FA.
He loves the draft. The browns have targetted about 40 players for the 53rd pick. He is not afraid of trading up if the opportunity is there- that means next years first.
The front seven will be rebuilt. He mentioned the Smith's of FA last year as positives. Sure sounded like the front seven is a target in FA- no surprise there. Sounds like he is hoping for a quick signing as in years past.

Well I hope we don't find out till after it happens. If we know the so do our trading partners.

Teams are better served letting the draft come to them rather than mortgaging future picks and bundling them with current picks.

I'd much rather adopt the approach of the Patriots, the Cowboys and others that regularly have more than their allotment of picks each year.

I hope we don't give away our 2009 1st rounder and 2008 2nd rounder to select a player in the mid twenties. It just doesn't make much sense unless you absolutely hit a homerun.

If you miss on that pick you miss twice. And who knows where we are drafting in 2009 at this point.

"I THINK" Held that is what PS is saying "IF" he has a guy on his draft board that he feels can have an immediate impact he would be willing to move up. But what I think he is really saying is should that player drop down and he is a certain as anyone can be that the selected player could have an immediate impact he wouldn't hesitate to jump up and grab that player.

I agree it's not the wisest of moves to continue to operate by morgaging the future year after year, but you have to be bold at times in order to really improve. Last season bold was a good move on his part, this season I too would like the Browns to stand pat and take their picks as they fall, but if we aren't able to improve thru FA to the degree we must, then I would be tempted to move down again. It's a tuff call to be sure, but I trust PS to do whats best for the Browns. He got us off the deck last season, this season I would like to see him continue to add the missing pieces, after all at this point I don't think we are far away from being a great team. With the right moves we could be a serios contender next season IMHO..

Brown to the Bone

I enjoyed this interview. I kind of hope that the browns do get back into the first round just because without a 1st rd pick I am finding it hard to look forward to the draft.

is it just me, or does listening to savage fire you all up?

savage speaks like he knows exactly what he's doing...like he's got his eye on the target and he's not going to miss...

Savage appears calm and confident. He has a plan!

I was thinking, the trading up is fine for an impact player. I just don't like mortgaging the future on it. I would be ok with trading for the d-line, but i think anything else would make me upset. For example, it would be hard to justify trading up for a RB. Even the linebackers, i would be upset about trading up to draft.

Just try to imagine where the Browns would be now if John Collins were running the show instead of Phil Savage.

Thank God Randy Lerner made the right choice.

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Savage appears calm and confident. He has a plan!

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His plan is to look like he has a plan.....Savages plan is to control the things he can and adjust to the out come of those things he cant,

I <3 savage. He kind of reminds me of a Bobby Bethard in his hayday.

Thanks for the link,, that was fun to watch even if there wasn't a WHOLE lotta new stuff to hash out..

Two things I came away with after watching this vid..

1. About 7 minutes in to the interview, Savage said it clearly,, Derek has an upside and should improve..

2. The man is willing to keep giving next years 1st pick away in order to get one this year...LOL kinda made me laugh the way he put it.

Could be a smoke screen on DA,, don't know and frankly, we as fans, probably shouldn't be able to tell that easily.

And man, we best be prepared for having a 1st round pick even if DA doesn't go anywhere... This guy seems to be willing to do WHATEVER it takes to build this team..

I particularly liked what he said about the Dline.. His comment that last year they picked up Smith and Smith, but beyond that, there are questions.. He knows.. he knows exactly what needs done and I'm convinced that he has a plan...

We finally have a GM that knows what to do and how to do it.

Perfect...

jc havent seen this posted yet and figured it came from this interview.

Cleveland Browns general manager says team close to deal with QB Derek Anderson
Wednesday, February 20, 2008Mary Kay CabotPlain Dealer Reporter
Browns General Manager Phil Savage said Tuesday he's optimistic the Browns will sign quarterback Derek Anderson to a three-year deal before he becomes a restricted free agent on Feb. 28.

"Talks have been a little more frequent in recent days," Savage said in an e-mail response. "It seems that the three-year deal is becoming more the focus. We've had pretty good dia logue and will con tinue over the [NFL scouting] combine."

Savage and An derson's agent, Mark Humenik of Athletes First, will be in Indianapolis for the combine over the next several days.

Also, in an interview with WKYC's Jim Donovan posted on cleveland.com, Savage said, "I do feel like [an Anderson deal] is going to get done. I have reason to think it will get done.

"We'll continue to work on it, but I do think it will go down to the days before free agency."

The Browns have until Feb. 28 to sign Anderson to a multiyear deal or must tender him a one-year offer as a restricted free agent, meaning they retain a right of first refusal. Savage has said he'd give Anderson the high tender of $2.562 million, requiring a team to give the Browns a 1st- and 3rd-round pick if they signed him.

But Savage is increasingly confident it won't get to that point.

"It's not anything we're working on every single hour, but it has gone back and forth several times," said Savage. "I think we feel good about it."

Savage said the two sides have pretty much settled on three years as the length. The Browns had been proposing two- and three-year contracts and Anderson's camp had been seeking a six- or seven-year deal, Savage said.

"Obviously, the fallback is we tender him as a restricted free agent, but our objective has been to sign him beyond one year, so we've pretty much become focused on a three-year scenario and there's a couple of reasons for that," said Savage.

Presumably, one reason is that Brady Quinn is waiting in the wings. If the team made a long-term commitment to Anderson, they'd risk Quinn's agent, Tom Condon, asking for a trade.

Savage reiterated the Browns would be fine with Quinn sitting for a second year, citing San Diego's Philip Rivers doing likewise behind Drew Brees.

"I think we feel good about the [quarterback] position and we want to go forward the way it is," said Savage. "In order to best preserve doing that, we'd like to sign DA to this three-year contract."

Anderson indicated during Super Bowl week that he wasn't thrilled with the Browns' original offer. Apparently, things have changed since then.

Savage said he didn't know what the free-agent market would be for Anderson, but acknowledged "quarterback is a premium position." As for Anderson's dropoff in production over the last five games of the season and into the Pro Bowl, Savage said: "If you watch as much tape as our people here, we feel like Derek has an upside and he'll improve that aspect of his game. But at the same time, his greatest strength is that he's not scared to whistle the ball around anywhere on the field. . . . [We'll] try to minimize the risk and do a better job of managing him through certain situations next year."

Savage also said in the e-mail that he's optimistic running back Jamal Lewis will be back next season. The Browns originally offered a two-year deal and Lewis' agent Mitch Frankel indicated he wanted at least a three-year contract, enabling Lewis to finish his career here.

Free agency begins at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 29.

"We've bantered back and forth on certain things but I do feel like Jamal will be in a Browns uniform next year," said Savage.

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/plaindea...&thispage=2

Doc Savage is smart! Negotiated some, and there is more going on in his head than we will be certain of. Like his hair; willing to get what he wants and he knows the relative price of things.

Bring it to Berea, Savage!

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Presumably, one reason is that Brady Quinn is waiting in the wings. If the team made a long-term commitment to Anderson, they'd risk Quinn's agent, Tom Condon, asking for a trade.

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If I read this right, it almost sounds like this is Mary Kay Cabot thinking to much.... I don't think there is anyway that Condon asks the browns to trade Quinn,,,, No matter what happens with DA

Two things jump out at me.

Re: Anderson, Savage said, "We've pretty much become focused on a three year scenario and there's a couple reasons for that."

I wonder what these reasons are. Could this have something to do with a commitment to having BQ start in 2009 or 2010, with a trade deal for Anderson after the first or second year of his new contract? Any thoughts on this?

Re: Defense, he said, "I don't think there's really anything wrong with the scheme, or anything wrong with the way we're playing, I just think we gotta get better players and better talent and when we've done that we've been able to be more successful either on offense or in the back end of the secondary, what have you." He also said, (in reference to the draft and free agency,) that beyond two Smiths the remaining personnel on the D-line is up in the air.

He plans on attacking the line with some major run stopping talent, which we could only expect giving his methodical approach to filling holes. That much is obvious, but (admittedly reading into his statement) it doesn't sound to me like he's happy with the "front end" of the secondary. My questions is, will he pull the trigger and spend big bucks (and by big I mean huge) on a #1 corner ala Asante? Or is he more likely to draft another diamond in the rough and spend the next year or two growing our young talent into a formidable unit?

also IF savage was thinking of trading DA a 3 year deal makes that much more likely. Many teams would worry if he was locked up for say 5 years. I mean they might feel like a 3 year gamble was doable.

I think you're reading too much into what he said.For example;

"on offense or in the back end of the secondary"

Try it this way;

"on offense or in the back end,the secondary"

Makes better sense,I've never heard anyone break down the secondary as backend,frontend.The secondary,as a whole,has generally been referred to as the backend.
I suppose if you wanted to get technical,the frontend of the backend would be the linebackers.

Another thing with Savage is that he seems like he's a very fair person that isn't out to undermine anybody and if DA does sign i'm sure Phil has been honest with DA and told him the possiblity of a trade. Phil seems like a fair enough man to respect the players wishes and the teams wishes and meet somewhere in the middle. I am so glad we have Phil running things that I'm not even worried about what will or will not happen because I have confidence in his decisions.

I just the love that Savage seems so straight foward with everything, you're right, there's no shortchanging or ripping off of players. And with all of these excellent drafts so far, I can't imagine anyone else at the helm of the organization.

Right now I couldn't be more happy with Savage, he's pure genius.

I went back and listened to it again, and he definitely says "...back end a the secondary..." You may have a point, and I may be reading too much into it, but why didn't he just say secondary if he was referring to the entire secondary?