George Paton removes himself from consideration for Browns GM job

The Cleveland Browns appeared to be zeroing in on hiring a new general manager earlier this week, but their search will continue after George Paton took himself out of the running.

Paton informed the Browns on Friday that he is removing himself from consideration for their GM job, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports.

#Vikings George Paton took himself out the running for #Browns GM, source tells clevelanddotcom

— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) January 24, 2020

Paton, who is currently the assistant GM with the Minnesota Vikings, has close ties to new Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski. The two spent 13 years together with the Vikings organization, and the Browns are trying to make it a point to hire a GM that can work closely with the new coach as a package deal.

With Paton no longer in the running, the focus for Cleveland will likely shift back to Philadelphia Eagles vice president Andrew Berry. New England Patriots director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort is also being considered for the position.