The Cleveland Browns severed another link to the Randy Lerner & Mike Holmgren era on Monday, trading third-string quarterback Colt McCoy to the San Francisco 49ers.

Along with McCoy the Browns threw in their sixth-round selection (173rd) in this month’s NFL Draft. In return they get San Francisco’s fifth- and seventh-round draft picks (numbers 164 and 227, for those of you keeping score at home).

Even by Cleveland standards, McCoy’s story was a strange one.

Drafted in the third round of the 2010 draft after a highly successful career at Texas and because Holmgren saw something in him, McCoy was slated to sit on the bench his rookie year and learn the NFL game. That all fell apart when Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace were sidelined with high ankle sprains – the injury of the year in 2010 for the Browns.

After not embarrassing himself in his first NFL start in Pittsburgh, McCoy improbably led the Browns to wins over New Orleans and New England. In the process McCoy led people who should know better to believe that not only did the Browns have an actual NFL quarterback, but also an NFL head coach in Eric Mangini. (A 2-6 finish to the season cleared up those misconceptions about Mangini; it would take another year for the same to happen to McCoy).

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Roger Goodell must be pissed. But then again so are a lot of agents. In the annals of NFL free agency, which really aren't all that far reaching anyway, this is easily the most pedestrian, indeed most boring, free agency period on record. Put it this way, when the most exciting story in all of free agency starts and ends with a fax machine (a fax machine!), then it may be time to rethink the whole approach.

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The Cleveland Browns signed journeyman quarterback Jason Campbell to a reported two-year contract late Tuesday night.

Campbell’s arrival probably means the end of Colt McCoy’s days in Brown and Orange and is most likely the final move to solidify the Brandon Weeden in 2013 campaign.

The nine-year veteran has moved around the league after being drafted by Washington in the first round of 2005. He played with the Redskins until 2010 when Mike Shanahan opted to trade Campbell to Oakland because Shanahan decided that a past-his-prime Donovan McNabb was a better option.

Campbell had 19 touchdowns passes and 12 interceptions in 19 games with the Raiders. He was injured six games into the 2011 season during a meeting against the Browns when he was sacked by Chris Gocong and Scott Fujita. The injury forced the Raiders to make a panic trade for a past-his-prime Carson Palmer. 

Campbell spent last season in Chicago as Jay Cutler’s backup; he made one start, a 32-7 loss against San Francisco where Campbell was 14-of-22 for 107 yards and two interceptions.

For his career, Campbell has thrown 76 touchdowns, 52 interceptions and posted an 82.5 quarterback rating.

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When the Cleveland Browns hired Mike Lombardi in January as vice president of player personnel, it was a controversial move that raised several questions among Browns fans (although not in the Jim Nantz household, of course).

After being out of the NFL since 2007 – and having what could best be described as a dodgy track record when he actually was employed with an NFL team – there’s more than reasonable doubt that Lombardi, who has since been promoted to general manager, may not be fully qualified for the job he currently holds with the Browns.

But one thing that is not in doubt is this: it is far more important for Lombardi to actually work on scouting players and trying to make the Browns relevant, and far less important for him to spend time talking with the media.

After complaining for the past three years that they had to talk to former general manager Tom Heckert rather than being granted open door access to team president Mike Holmgren, there are some media members now complaining that they have to talk to CEO Joe Banner rather than Lombardi.

Only in Cleveland.

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