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San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel Tom Gamble is one of the hottest names on the market, and he might be “the” biggest name out there up for a GM promotion. According to NFL Network insider Albert Breer, the Browns have asked the 49ers permission to interview Gamble for their vacant GM position.

Gamble is already a top target for the New York Jets (Gamble is a New Yorker), the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the San Diego Chargers.

Now the important thing here is that it gets the rumors wheels churning. I mean, if Haslam wants a coach first but now he wants to interview a GM, does that mean the Browns have already added Chip Kelly? Does that mean Gamble actually wants to be the GM of a team with Kelly making significant personnel decisions as a coach? Because Gamble could probably land with San Diego in a more attractive situation for a GM with a team that likely won’t be giving the new head coach nearly as much personnel power.

Steve Keim, David Caldwell, Jason Licht, John Idzik, Ray Farmer, and Michael Lombardi are also possible GM hires for the Cleveland Browns.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.

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Penn State Nittany Lions head coach and former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy (another hot name), Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter (hot name for other teams), San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman, and Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians (huge interest from the San Diego Chargers among other teams).

The Inquirer also reported that the Eagles requested permission to interview Atlanta Falcons special teams coach Keith Armstrong and defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, in addition to asking to interview Koetter.

If owner Jeffrey Lurie wants to land his top choice (and the Cleveland Browns top choice) Chip Kelly, then he will have to grant his request to give Kelly almost total operational control over personnel decisions. That’s a rather outlandish request for a college head coach with no major NFL experience to request, and it seems like something Lurie or Kelly will have to make concessions for.

All the Falcons assistants and Roman will be able to interview with Lurie and the Eagles this weekend, because their teams have secured the two playoff byes in the NFC.

Lurie and GM Howie Roseman have been working together for some time now, and I highly doubt Lurie will give an incoming college coach power over Roseman. That’s something to keep in mind, and it’s the one thing that makes it hard to see Kelly coaching the Eagles.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.

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Marrone was an offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints under Sean Payton during some big seasons for Drew Brees and the offense, but he left for Syracuse before the Super Bowl winning year. My thing is that we don’t know how much Marrone was responsible for the Saints offensive success, and I’m inclined to think that Payton is responsible for pretty much all of the offensive success from a coaching perspective.

The Syracuse coach also worked for the New York Jets in the past, and his resume in college isn’t the best either. He has .500 record with the Orange in 50 games, including a poor 11-17 conference record in the Big East. Granted, he did help that school turn around after the awful four years under Greg Robinson, and Marrone has led the team to two 8-5 seasons and Pinstripe Bowl victories in his four years thus far.

However, Marrone needs to build up a better resume before he can be considered a viable head coaching candidate. You can’t fault either the Bills or Browns for wanting to interview him, but I highly doubt he is one of the top choices for either team. The Browns are looking hard at the college ranks and have reportedly identified Oregon Ducks big-name coach Chip Kelly as their top target. If you want to pull from the college ranks, then Chip is pretty much the only legitimate option at this point. And even he has question marks on him.

The fact that the Bills and Browns decided to interview Marrone this early in the process is the most quizzical thing, and I’ve talked to a couple of fans on both franchises who aren’t too thrilled about this news.

One thing that baffles me about Jimmy Haslam’s process in running the Browns is the fact that he wants to hire a coach before a GM. It’s not a terrible decision, but most franchise do things the other way around. If they can get it to work, though, I won’t be complaining.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.