Report: Ray Farmer Relieved of Duties Before Final Game, Could Sashi Brown Take His Place as GM?

According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Cleveland Browns GM Ray Farmer met with ownership (presumably Jimmy and Dee Haslam) prior to the team's final game against the Steelers, and was relieved of his duties.

#Browns source: GM Ray Farmer met with ownership before the game & was relieved of his duties. It's over.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 3, 2016

If it's true, then it means that Farmer was walking around the field earlier today, knowing his fate was sealed already. He was also in one of the Browns' suites during the game:

Interestingly enough, Rapoport speculates that Sashi Brown, the team's Executive Vice President and General Counsel, could replace Farmer in the football operations department. Vic Carucci, who used to work for Browns.com and is now with the Bills, also reported the same thing:

Heard #Browns Executive VP/General Counsel Sashi Brown could be in line to take over team's football operation. Very analytics-driven.

— Vic Carucci (@viccarucci) January 3, 2016

Brown's specialty has been handling contracts, and it's even possible that Brown is the one who constructed the contract of TE Gary Barnidge a couple of weeks ago. I would even presume that Brown is the one sitting next to Farmer in the photograph above. Kevin Jones, formerly of Browns.com, is also hearing stuff about Brown and provided some thoughts on the potential move:

Just got a text saying this is definitely in play. Sashi has Jimmy's ear and loves how NBA teams use analytics https://t.co/1Tvk0zdD8G

— Kevin Jones (@Mr_KevinJones) January 3, 2016

Sashi is tremendously bright, but has never scouted before, and I'm told he's never sat in on combine interviews etc. This would be bold

— Kevin Jones (@Mr_KevinJones) January 3, 2016

Head coach Mike Pettine is scheduled to meet with Haslam at 7:00 PM ET, where he might find out his fate.