The Baltimore Ravens hired Sashi Brown as the new team president. Dick Cass is stepping down after 17 years in the position, so the Ravens nabbed the one-time Browns general manager as his replacement. Brown will leave his current position with the Washington Wizards and Monumental Sports. The move will take place on April 1, when Cass officially steps down.
Ravens President Dick Cass will retire after 18 years with the team and Sashi Brown has been named his successor, Owner Steve Bisciotti has announced. pic.twitter.com/msrKvEmoLk
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) February 4, 2022
Brown will oversee every area of the organization, including player personnel, staff personnel, coaching, corporate sales, operations and communications and business ventures.
Brown Is More Than Qualified To Lead The Ravens In That Role: Analytics Will Help
Brown is more than qualified for the position as he’s one of a few executives to have experience on both sides of the business, executive and personnel. With the Ravens being one of the most respected franchises in the league for how the franchise handles business throughout the entire organization, adding someone with Brown’s experience is a huge plus. His strong background in analytics is something that the Ravens embrace, especially with head coach John Harbaugh and GM Eric DeCosta being into it pretty heavily.
Sashi Brown is leaving Monumental Sports and the Washington Wizards to return to the NFL as an executive with the Baltimore Ravens, sources tell me and @AdamSchefter. Brown had previously been the Cleveland Browns GM.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 4, 2022
While Brown’s track record in Cleveland may not look great with the team, as he posted a 1-31 record during his time as GM, he did oversee a franchise that was in clear tank mode. The team was looking to acquire as many high draft picks as possible, clear cap space, and basically execute a complete teardown and rebuild from the ground up. Brown was fired well before he completed his second season, so he wasn’t around for the bulk of the rebuild.
At the time of the firing, a TSL article on the matter said:
“Brown was named the team’s top executive by owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam as part of an outside-the-box and ambitious overhaul following the 2015 season. Cleveland, a franchise who has been stuck in a muck of losing seasons, shaky talent evaluations and a merry-go-round of coaches, decided to totally go against the grain when they hired Brown, a former lawyer for the Jacksonville Jaguars with no prior football experience of any kind. They also hired Hue Jackson as head coach, giving them the only all-black GM and HC combination in the NFL.
In Brown, they had an Ivy League guy in the mold of a Brian Cashman with the Yankees or Theo Epstein with the Red Sox. He lacked direct knowledge and experience about football, but was a master negotiator, businessman and would bring fresh analytics, a trailer load of draft picks and some stability to the Cleveland Browns.
It was a long shot that didn’t get much time to materialize or grow.”
Now Brown gets a second shot with an organization that is trying to win and has a rich tradition of winning and minority excellence in the front office. He follows in the footsteps of legendary NFL tight end Ozzie Newsome, who became the first Black GM in NFL history and led the Ravens to two Super Bowl rings.
Brown Is Highly Educated: Degrees From Hampton And Harvard To Boot
Sashi Brown is leaving the Wizards to return to the NFL with the Ravens https://t.co/zsd5yY9RNy
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 5, 2022
Brown is a 1998 graduate of Hampton University with a bachelor’s degree, and a doctorate from Harvard Law School in 2002. A successful attorney in D.C., Brown became the general counsel and senior VP for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2005-12.
From 2013 -2017, Brown served as executive vice president of the Cleveland Browns, effectively becoming team GM in 2016, and part of the 2017 season. In 2019, he became chief planning and operations officer for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which includes the Washington Wizards, Washington Mystics and Capital City Go-Go of the NBA G-League.
Sashi Brown leaves Washington Wizards for Baltimore Ravens https://t.co/Wd9NC5d4B8
— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) February 5, 2022
Brown to the Ravens is a bit of NFL history. He joins Washington Commanders team president Jason Wright as the only Black professionals to hold that title in league history.
Brown now has his work cut out for him as the Ravens will look to lock up franchise signal caller Lamar Jackson to a long-term extension. Brown is coming into a totally different situation than he did in Jacksonville or Cleveland. He should thrive with a forward and progressive thinking franchise like the Ravens, who do things the correct way and are led by a great owner in Steve Bisciotti.
With the Brian Flores situation, and seven of the nine head coach openings going to non-Blacks thus far, it’s nice to see a qualified black land a solid job.
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