Saturday Dawg Chow: Browns news (1/8/22)

Cleveland Browns:

• Doug Dieken’s retirement from radio a true end of an era (The Athletic) - (Paywalled) To know Doug Dieken, the ultimate Cleveland Brown, is to know a man of humility and humor, of brief but memorable groans on the airwaves when things aren’t going well for the home team and of long — and generally hilarious — stories spanning six decades of Browns football.
• Browns will look at soft tissue injuries to determine if any were preventable this season (News 5 Cleveland) - The 2021 season was not what anyone expected for the Cleveland Browns, with the season kicking off with Super Bowl contender discussions and ending for all intents and purposes a week before their final game when they were eliminated from playoff contention. There were plenty of issues that led to the disappointing season, and the Browns will look to correct the mistakes they made this year—and one area the Browns are looking at is the rash of injuries suffered throughout the course of the season.
• Ashton Grant cherishes elevated hands-on roles in second season of Bill Willis Coaching Fellowship (clevelandbrowns.com) - Ashton Grant’s favorite days of his second season of the Bill Willis Coaching Fellowship were the ones where he was in charge. Grant, who’s been with the Browns since June 2020, has had several of those days throughout Year 2 working alongside wide receivers coach/pass game coordinator Chad O’Shea and head coach Kevin Stefanski. After working in the running backs room a season ago, Grant has primarily worked with the wide receivers in 2021, and his experience working with the coaching staff has allowed him to occasionally construct and conduct practice plans, run meetings and fulfill his dream of coaching NFL players.
• If Jarvis Landry’s time in Cleveland is ending, he’ll have lasting impact (Beacon Journal) - Jarvis Landry helped the Browns reverse their fortunes after former General Manager John Dorsey brought the five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver to Cleveland in a trade with the Miami Dolphins in 2018. This is undisputed. And as Landry approaches the end of his fourth and what could be final season with the Browns, teammates are acknowledging the impact he’s had on them.

NFL:

• The Offensive Player of the Year race Is coming down to the wire (The Ringer) - The margin between Cooper Kupp and Jonathan Taylor couldn’t be slimmer. And who wins the award will say a lot about what type of football voters find impressive in the modern NFL.
• Buccaneers’ Tom Brady, Packers’ Aaron Rodgers and more can cash in (ESPN) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have an incentive to finish the regular season strong, both as a team and for at least a couple of individuals. The Bucs, who host Carolina on Sunday, can win the No. 2 seed in the NFC, and quarterback Tom Brady is one of many NFL players with bonuses and incentives tied into his contract, which means winning and losing won’t be confined to the field.
• Jaguars to interview Alabama OC Bill O’Brien for HC vacancy next week (NFL.com) - Add former Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien to the extensive list of potential hires for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ head coaching vacancy. The club plans to interview O’Brien, now the offensive coordinator at Alabama, next week following the Crimson Tide’s appearance in Monday’s College Football Playoff national championship game, according to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.
• Antonio Brown is gone, but did he take Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl hopes with him? (Tampa Bay Times) - Pick a side. Choose your protagonist. Either you believe Antonio Brown when he says the Bucs did him wrong, or you believe Bruce Arians when he says AB behaved like a petulant child. Just so you know, there is no foolproof answer. Brown has a well-earned reputation for self-infatuation and Arians did himself no favors by sidestepping and parsing his answers to a week’s worth of questions.