Shortly after the Browns officially announced that defensive coordinator Todd Grantham had been "not retained", general manager Phil Savage made a scheduled appearance on Sirius Satellite's NFL channel.
During his brief stint with hosts Adam Schein and Tim Ryan, Savage touched on a number of subjects, including the departure of Grantham and the reason(s) behind it.
While it wasn't "the heavens opened up, and there were angels and bugles" illuminating, it did shed a little light on the Grantham situation.
When asked about Grantham's dismissal, Savage stated that head coach Romeo Crennel felt a change was needed at the coordinator position, a stance that was stated both during and after their yearly "season-in-review" meetings. Savage felt his HC's "arguments and reasons were compelling enough" that he needed to heed RAC's input and expunge Grantham from the staff.
Perhaps most interesting, though, was Savage's explanation of the "possible" reasons behind RAC's falling out with Grantham.
In describing the struggles of the defense for most of the year, Savage stated that he felt like the defensive side of the ball was not devoid of talent, but it also wasn't a coaching issue either.
Then, the GM hit on the crux of the issue.
Stating that sometimes these things go "beyond stats and numbers", Savage spoke of the coaching staff and players being together a lot, and that sometimes the relationships aren't as smooth as they need to be. In this case, Savage thought that probably factored in to some degree.
Without stating in so many words, Savage seemingly confirmed that there were issues between both RAC and Grantham, and Grantham and certain players on the defensive side of the ball.
In other issues Savage hit on during his roughly 10-minute interview:
*SUCCESS OF THE 2007 SEASON: Credited the coaching staff and the players for bouncing back from the season-opening debacle against the Steelers.
*OFFENSIVE LINE: The lynchpin of the line's success was drafting Joe Thomas. Adding Thomas and Eric Steinbach really solidified the entire offensive line. Thought that Kevin Shaffer and Ryan Tucker were solid, and referred to Hank Fraley as a "lynchpin".
*JOE THOMAS: The rookie is already a pro at a very young age. A very consistent OL who, when he does make a mistake, doesn't let it bother him.
*DEREK ANDERSON: The club's first objective is to keep him off the open market, and show that they are committed to him being the starter "going into next year". Feels that DA has a big upside and will only get better. Savage also made sure people understood that a long-term deal to keep DA off the market doesn't necessarily mean a six- or seven-year deal, that it could be two or three years.
*2007 OFFENSE: When Rob Chudzinski was interviewed for the offensive coordinator position, he said he would bring an offense that would get the ball into the hands of the playmakers. DA was the reason that Chud accomplished just that. Feels that if the OL can keep the protection up, and DA and Jamal Lewis return, the offense should continue to roll.
*2008 OFF-SEASON: They've whittled away at the team's needs over the last two years, so now their focus has become narrowed in player acquisition. They plan to zero in on the front seven in both free agency and the draft.