Just this afternoon, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that the former NY Jets head coach Eric Mangini is the favorite to land the Cleveland Browns head coaching job.

The Browns have continued their search process, interviewing other candidates, but sources say Mangini had a "compelling" interview and owner Randy Lerner is fascinated with him.

If Mangini gets the job to replace the fired Romeo Crennel, the favorite to become the team's general manager is George Kokinis, who is the director of pro personnel for the Baltimore Ravens, the sources said.

This decision by the Browns to possibly hire Eric Mangini is interesting to Chiefs fans for a couple of reasons.

First, if the Browns do hire Mangini, that means that Scott Pioli will likely not be brought is as the general manager in Cleveland. Pioli reportedly wants total control of the Browns, with filling the head coaching spot one of those demands. You'd have to believe that Pioli would not come to Cleveland if they already hired a head coach, especially one who burned the Patriots in the spying scandal.

Naturally, if Scott Pioli doesn't go to Cleveland, then him going to Kansas City is still on the table. Pioli is scheduled to interview with the Chiefs no later than Monday.

Next, the Chiefs were reportedly interested in Ravens Director of Pro Personnel George Kokinis as a possible GM candidate. If Mangini is hired and Kokinis follows, this removes one of the candidates Clark Hunt has been rumored to be interested in. If Clark Hunt is interested in Kokinis, he's not showing it. I doubt he is because as late as December 31st, no team had contacted Kokinis for an interview.

This report about the Browns liking Mangini so much is also an indicator that perhaps Scott Pioli had too many demands for the Browns or was asking for too much control in his demands. The Browns may have already given up on Pioli and are starting to move forward.

Pioli's demands will likely be a point that the Chiefs and him clash on, especially if Pioli doesn't want to leave New England for anything less than a perfect deal. Who knows? Scott Pioli may not leave the Patriots for anything less than $10 million a year and the only person who knows that is Scott Pioli. We may be wasting our time here but there is no way to tell until after this upcoming interview with Pioli.

For those fans coveting Scott Pioli as the Chiefs GM, it appears you're still in luck.

Dawgs by Nature has the Cleveland Browns perspective on the whole thing.