CLEVELAND -- New Browns general manager Tom Heckert began his overhaul of the team's personnel department with four firings.
Heckert dismissed the pro personnel group Thursday, team spokesman Neal Gulkis said. The department was headed by senior director Steve Sabo, who had been with the Browns since 1998. Keith O'Quinn, Jim Jauch and James Kirkland also were let go.
Sabo was responsible for scouting NFL teams and assisted with advance game scouting. Pro personnel director O'Quinn spent one year with the Browns after coming over from the Dallas Cowboys. Jauch, associate director of college and pro personnel, spent six seasons in Cleveland, and assistant director Kirkland joined the Browns in 2004.
Heckert, the former Philadelphia Eagles GM, is expected to bring in his own people to oversee pro personnel and scouting.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
