Bruce Arians says he could come out of retirement to coach Cleveland

So here’s an interesting twist on the old coach-search saga: Bruce Arians, the two-time coach of the year and one of the more popular men to walk the sidelines in this generation, has said the only team that could lure him out of retirement would be … the Cleveland Browns?

Arians, who retired last year, was in Cleveland Sunday for the Browns-Chiefs game broadcast, and a Canton Republic sportswriter asked him if he’d ever consider coming out of retirement. “Cleveland is the only job I would consider,” he said, and given the current state of coaching in Cleveland, those eight words are surely enough to get his agent’s phone lighting up.

Arians’ connection to Cleveland

Arians retired with a career head coaching record of 49-30-1, coaching for a portion of one year in Indianapolis and five in Arizona. He took two teams to the playoffs, winning one game after the 2015 season. He has a history with Cleveland, having served as offensive coordinator for three years from 2001-03. Arians was the OC during Cleveland’s lone playoff appearance in its expansion era, after the 2002 season; the Browns lost to Pittsburgh 36-33.

Of note: Arians had high praise for Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield before the draft. “I like Baker,” Arians said in January. “His enthusiasm, because it’s real, not false. Got to curb it a little, maybe, but maybe not. Guys respect ‘real’ in the locker room. If that’s who you really are, they’ll follow you.”

And who knows? Maybe Mayfield will be following Arians before long.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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