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Billick: 'Brad Pitt And Jonah Hill Running Browns Front Office'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Cleveland Browns are changing their entire philosophy.

In January, they hired hired former baseball executive Paul DePodesta, who appeared in the book Moneyball during his time with the Oakland A's. They also promoted 40-year-old Harvard Law graduate Sashi Brown to executive VP of football operations and hired offensive guru Hue Jackson as their head coach.

Former Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl winning champion head coach Brian Billick is not a fan of analytics, or the Cleveland Browns for that matter. Billick believes it's possible the Browns could go 0-16.

Related: Carson Wentz: 'The Moment Is Not Gonna Shock Me'

"It stemmed from the conversation of would say any team is going to go 0-16 or 16-0?" Billick told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show during his weekly Thursday morning call-in at 8:00 a.m. "No, that's a prohibitive bet. But then the question put back to me was, 'OK what game are they going to win?' And you go through their schedule, that's a tough one. I don't know -- you look at the schedule, they likely could be the underdog in every single game. They're playing their first five of seven on the road. So, if it starts cascading that way -- and I have nothing personal against the Cleveland Browns. They're clearly a team that has a long way to go. They've got Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill running the front office because they think they're going to Moneyball their way to this. OK, that's fine. We'll see. But they're a long way from this happening and I don't mean it disrespectfully, I don't see a game -- right now, not withstanding injury -- that I would bet on them winning. And I will put a small wager on the fact, that even at home, I think they'll likely be an underdog in every game this season."

Listen: Brian Billick on the 94WIP Morning Show

 

The Eagles, of course, made a colossal trade with the Browns in order to move up to pick No. 2 to draft quarterback Carson Wentz, who will start on Sunday vs. the Browns. DePodesta controversially told a local radio station that the Browns did not evaluate Wentz as a potential top-20 NFL quarterback.

Cataldi asked Billick why Jackson, a quarterback guy, wouldn't want Wentz.

Related: Eagles Rallying Behind Wentz

"I think what he saw was look, we're a bad football team and we need a lot of players," Billick said of Jackson's decision to trade the second overall pick. "And the fact that he could get extra players and in the back of his mind -- I don't know this for a fact -- but he's thinking, 'You know what I think I can salvage RG3. We need a lot more players.' I wouldn't be concerned with the fact that they bypassed Carson Wentz."

 

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