Orange and Brown Report: It's Official, Hillsdale's Heckert New Browns GM

It's Official: Heckert New Browns GM
		By Steve King OBR Reporter Posted Jan 11, 2010 The Browns today officially announced the hiring of Tom Heckert as their new General Manager. The news continues the reconstruction of the Browns front office under new Team President Mike Holmgren...
The Browns have gone back to the future to get the last piece of their top football managerial triumvirate by officially hiring Tom Heckert as their general manager on Monday afternoon. Heckert, whose father, Tom Sr., worked as an area scout for the Browns, serving the Midwest, from 1982 through ’86, was believed to be the frontrunner for the job even before he interviewed with new team president Mike Holmgren last Wednesday. By NFL rule, he was not permitted to be hired until the Philadelphia Eagles, for whom he had worked as general manager since January 2006, were eliminated from the NFC playoffs. That hurdle was cleared Saturday night when the Dallas Cowboys routed them 34-14 in a wild card-round game. The 42-year-old Heckert will have final say over the 53-man roster, something he did not possess in Philadelphia, where that responsibility is held by head coach Andy Reid. By league by-laws, that’s the only way Heckert could have made what appears at first glance to be a lateral move. Full Story