Axing Mangini should top Holmgren’s to-do list

OPINION

By Mike Florio

updated 10:34 p.m. ET Dec. 22, 2009

With Mike Holmgren joining the Browns as team president only a few days before Christmas, the man known by friend and foe alike as the "Big Show" has plenty of work to do.

So let's try to lighten the load a bit by putting together for him an initial to-do list. Here are 10 things Holmgren should get accomplished long after they paint his name onto the door:

1. Fire Eric Mangini
After watching their team go 1-11 to start the season, Browns fans are feeling giddy after watching it earn back-to-back wins for the first time since Week 6 of the 2008 season. The victories have spawned a sense that coach Eric Mangini perhaps isn't so bad after all, that maybe he should get another year on the job.

He shouldn't.

Mangini has been horrible for Cleveland; he has created multiple distractions, and he has alienated players and their agents.

Owner Randy Lerner inexplicably chased Mangini in January, at a time when no one else wanted to hire the man who had just been fired by the Jets.

More important, Mangini has been running the show all year, and he likely won't be thrilled about taking a back seat to Holmgren. So Holmgren needs to make a change right away.

Besides, what if Mangini were to succeed in another season on the job? Holmgren then would be stuck with Mangini, and Mangini would surely take advantage of his newfound juice to accumulate as much power as possible.

So Holmgren needs to get rid of Mangini now.

2. Hire Mangini's replacement
One obvious candidate is Jim Mora, who might be out in Seattle, depending on who the team's next general manager is.

If Holmgren hopes to have an active role in the Xs and Os, Jim Zorn makes sense, too. He has experience in the top job, and he'd surely defer to any guidance or suggestions Holmgren might make.

Of course, if Holmgren really wants to get involved, he can coach the team himself, something he has not yet ruled out.

3. Pay Josh Cribbs
Receiver/kick returner Josh Cribbs genuinely believes owner Randy Lerner promised in December 2008 to address Cribbs' substandard contract, which runs through 2012 and which was signed before Cribbs became arguably the best player on the team.

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Though the current regime has denied that any such promise was made, it has not denied that former GM Phil Savage promised to take care of Cribbs. That should count for something.

So Holmgren needs to show loyalty to a man who hasn't allowed his contractual situation to affect his play. If anything, he has played better.

On second thought, maybe they shouldn't give him a new deal.

4. Find a quarterback
Every GM wants to hire his own coach, and every coach wants to land his own quarterback.

Not long after Holmgren arrived in Green Bay, GM Ron Wolf traded for Brett Favre. In Seattle, Holmgren the GM traded after the 2000 season for Matt Hasselbeck.

Holmgren first needs to evaluate the guys currently under contract. Maybe Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn is the answer. (Don't laugh. But you may chuckle.)

Next, Holmgren should look to free agency and/or the draft, along with trade possibilities.

Who knows? Maybe the Brett Favre unretirement tour ultimately will end in a reunion with Holmgren.

5. Trade Jerome Harrison
On the surface, the notion of trading a guy who rushed for 286 yards on Sunday is laughable. But it's important to consider the opponent against whom the performance came.

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The Chiefs aren't good. Having a record day against a bad team doesn't mean Harrison will be the next Jim Brown.

But, surely, there's another team out there willing to swing a deal for Harrison, if only for the buzz factor. And Harrison will never have any more trade value than he has right now.

So Holmgren should sell high and use the resulting draft pick(s) on the many other areas of need.

As to replacing Harrison, the draft is replete with guys who can move the chains if they get the blocking.