Browns fire director of player development Jerry Butler

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 17, 2011, 7:37 AM EDT

The Cleveland Browns have fired director of player development Jerry Butler, and at least one player Butler helped develop isn’t happy about it.

Browns cornerback Eric Wright posted about his admiration for Butler on Twitter.

“We all understand that things change and business isn’t always fair but the Browns fired one of the best guys in that building in Jerry Butler,” Wright tweeted.

The Browns’ web site still lists Butler as director of player development, but Zac Jackson of Fox Sports Ohio reports that two sources confirmed the Browns have, in fact, fired Butler.

After a standout career at Clemson, the Buffalo Bills made Butler the fifth overall pick in the 1979 NFL draft. He was rookie of the year in 1979 and a Pro Bowler in 1980, and after retiring as a player in 1987 he moved to the Bills’ front office. In 1999 Butler became the Browns’ receivers coach, and in 2001 he moved into the director of player development role.

And now he’s out, in a move that comes as a surprise.

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12 responses to “Browns fire director of player development Jerry Butler”

  3. Maybe they “fired” him so he could continue working at developing players. Then they can hire him after the lockout.

  5. I’m surprised more heads didn’t roll a few years back when every injured player got a staph infection.

    That said, he probably had no fault in that, or he’d have been let go then.

  7. hitdog042 says: May 17, 2011 10:20 AM

    How is this a surprise? Have you seen the Browns talent since 2001?

    *******************

    Do you have any clue what that job description is?

    It has nothing to do with talent.

  8. Yes Eric, he was so instrumental in your development, especially last year. Now I guess you’ll regress into total nothingness

  9. Considering Wright’s “development” over the last year or two- his vote of confidence for Butler is not exactly the one that’s gonna impress anybody…

  10. Could be a big mistake, Holmgren may have told his staff, “Fire the butler” and they figured he meant Jerry. Ptobably isn’t even the first time with Jerry that he’s been fired that way.

    I think if Jerry Butler worked for me though I’d call him Jeeves or Giles just as a joke. He’d be upset but at the end of the day we’d both laugh and slap eachother on the back. But I would change my name to “Tom King” so if he tried to pull the same trick on me he would say “Hey King”and I’d say “Yes, what do you want Butler”.

  11. Player development has nothing do do with on-the-field work. You should read about things before blindly commenting about them.

    According to NFL.com:

    “Player Development Directors at each club . . . [are responsible for a] continuum of services to help active and practice squad players succeed in all aspects of their lives . . . Player Development is divided into five areas: Continuing Education, Financial Education, Career Development, Player Assistance Services and Career Transition.””

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