BEREA Joe Schobert Color Rush Jersey , Ohio (AP) — Mike McCarthy’s connections with the Browns could land him his next job.Dumped by Green Bay on Sunday after 13 seasons, a Super Bowl win and amid a seemingly growing rift with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, McCarthy’s candidacy to become Cleveland’s next coach has gotten more legitimate.The 55-year-old McCarthy was already being mentioned as a possibility for the Browns, who dismissed Hue Jackson last month and will wait until after the season before hiring his full-time replacement.As far as center JC Tretter is concerned, the Browns couldn’t go wrong with McCarthy.“I’ve always enjoyed working with Mike McCarthy,” said Tretter, who played four seasons under McCarthy before signing as a free agent with Cleveland in 2017. “I think what he has done in his career in Green Bay has been extraordinary. I think he’s a great man, too. I don’t have a bad thing to say about Mike McCarthy. He was really an awesome leader and an awesome coach.”McCarthy is no stranger to the Browns.General manager John Dorsey, who has revamped Cleveland’s roster and is leading the team’s coaching search, spent 21 years as an executive in Green Bay and helped hire McCarthy. Browns assistant GM Eliot Wolf, son of former Packers GM Ron Wolf, worked in Green Bay’s scouting department for 14 years, and vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith was with the Packers for 19 years before he was hired by Dorsey.Tretter said he can’t provide any more information to Cleveland’s executives about McCarthy than they have already.“They know enough upstairs,” Tretter said. “They got Eliot and Alonzo and they’ve got other guys from the Green Bay organization. I don’t think I can bring anything more to the table than they already know. They were with him longer than I was and they were upstairs with him more than I was downstairs with him, so I think they know everything they need to know. I’m just looking forward to seeing the direction we go with this team.”Dorsey hasn’t revealed much about his plans to hire Cleveland’s 17th full-time coach — and sixth in the past 10 years.Interim coach Gregg Williams, who took over for Jackson, will be interviewed; Dorsey has not disclosed who else is on his list. Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley has been mentioned as a possible candidate along with Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Minnesota offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, and New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels among the most prominent names being mentioned.It will be tough for any candidate to have a resume as impressive as McCarthy’s.He went 125-77-2 in 13 seasons with the Packers, leading them to a Super Bowl title in 2010. However, Green Bay has struggled the past two seasons, missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 2008.The Packers are 4-7-1 this season, with McCarthy’s relationship with Rodgers becoming a weekly drama around the team.Tretter knows both men well https://www.brownsfanshop.com/Ricardo-Louis-Jersey , and said any of differences have been exaggerated.“That whole story line gets a little overblown,” Tretter said. “They are just two competitive people and I think they are both competitive in the same direction in that they both want the team to win. They just are very confident in what they think is best for the team to win, so I never really interpreted it as a bad thing.”Cleveland’s coaching gig has never looked so attractive.Rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield has shown signs of being the franchise QB the Browns have coveted for years, and any coach who comes to Cleveland will be required to further develop him.Tretter feels McCarthy would be ideal for Mayfield.“They would do great, he said. “He started working with Aaron when Aaron was a rookie, too, and Aaron’s developed into a hell of a player, so I think that relationship would be fine. I see a lot of similarities between Aaron and Baker personality-wise, competitiveness, and that’s all the things that Aaron came in with, too, when he was a young player, so I think they’d work well together.”NOTES: S Denzel Ward remains in concussion protocol after getting hurt in Sunday’s loss to Houston. … DL Larry Ogunjobi (biceps) said he doesn’t think his injury is serious. Williams said Ogunjobi was still undergoing tests. … The Browns did not put a claim on former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, waived Saturday after a video showed him shoving and kicking a woman at a Cleveland hotel. Dorsey drafted Hunt in the third round in 2017. BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Freddie Kitchens got intensely defensive about the Browns new offensive star. Odell Beckham Jr. isn’t in any trouble with his coach.Kitchens’ voice rising to deliver his message, Cleveland’s first-year coach said Saturday he’s not upset that Beckham has skipped the first two phases of the team’s voluntary offseason workout program.“Of course, I would rather him be here than not here, but I understand why,” Kitchens said. “I talk to Odell every day. He knows what we’re doing offensively every day. He will be ready to play. Don’t worry about that.”While his teammates — with the exception of disgruntled running back Duke Johnson — have been practicing and developing camaraderie, Beckham, who was acquired in a March trade with the New York Giants, has been training in California.Kitchens dismissed the idea that Beckham not being around could have a negative effect on the Browns. He pointed out that NFL defensive stars Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald have not been with their teams in previous years for offseason workouts.“Now, it benefits and it is better for us to have them here us being a new staff David Njoku Jersey , but if we can’t have him ready to play when he shows up, they need to find a new head coach and they need to find a new position coach,” said Kitchens, hired in January after a successful interim stint as offensive coordinator last season.Beckham has drawn some criticism for his absence, which some have viewed as more evidence that he’s a selfish player.And while Kitchens would prefer Beckham was at every practice and meeting, he’s not letting the issue sidetrack the Browns.“I also understand that you guys are trying to define and draw lines in the sand between coaches and players and players and players and that ain’t gonna happen anymore,” Kitchens told reporters. “And there’s no problem with Odell not being here. I’d rather him be here. He’s not here. It’s voluntary. That’s what the word voluntary means. He can decide to come or he can’t.“But under no circumstance am I going to say that I’m pissed off at Odell for not being here. He’ll be ready to play and ultimately that’s the only thing I want, for him to be ready to play when we start kicking off in September and he will be — I promise you.”Beckham spent five sometimes rocky seasons with the Giants. He was excited for a new start in Cleveland, but other than coming in for an introductory news conference on April 1, he’s been elsewhere.Earlier this week, Jarvis Landry posted on social media that he’s training and promised Browns fans that he’ll be “the best version of myself on and off the field.”Kitchens isn’t concerned about Beckham’s time away impacting his connection with Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. The pair has trained together in the summer.“I’ll tell you this about Odell Beckham and Baker Mayfield,” Kitchens said. “I think they have a pretty good relationship and they’ve formed pretty good camaraderie. They’ve worked out for two summers in California and I don’t see their camaraderie being a problem.”As for Johnson, who asked to be traded after the team signed Kareem Hunt, there had been speculation the Browns would deal him this weekend. But that didn’t happen, and Kitchens seemed confident Johnson may stay around.“Duke is under contract,” he said. “I have said this for like a month now, I don’t know where all this trade talk started happening. People just assumed that we are going to trade him because we signed another good football player. Me, personally, I like good football players and I like as many of them as we can get. Then, it is our job to get them the ball and to help to enable them to help us win in whatever role that is.“Duke Johnson is on this football team, Duke Johnson will have a vital role in this football team and Duke Johnson will help us win football games. Am I surprised that he’s still here? No, not one bit. I haven’t wavered and never said anything different other than that.”