Joe Banner could be headed for the NFL office

Look for Joe Banner's next job to be in the NFL office.

The former Eagles president was fired last week as the Cleveland Browns' chief executive officer after just 18 months on the job.

His turbulent year-and-a-half with the team included a four-win season, a falling out with Mike Lombardi, the general manager that he had hand-picked, the firing of his first head-coaching hire -- Rob Chudzinski -- after just one year, and another Keystone Kops-like coaching search that included trying to trade for San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.

All of that said, Banner still is regarded as one of the smartest businessmen in the league. He was involved in the league's 2011 labor negotiations and was the brains behind the new rookie wage scale, which dramatically reduced the amount of guaranteed money to the draft's top picks.

In a league that is consumed with increasing its revenues, Banner's business and money-making skills will be welcome.

Eric Grubman, the league's executive vice president of business operations and a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, is a good friend of Banner's. According to two league sources, he is trying to convince him to take a job with the league.

Grubman was the man who introduced Banner to Browns owner Jimmy Haslam in 2012 when he was negotiating to buy the Browns and looking for someone to run the team.

Banner told the Daily News Monday that he's going to take several months off before deciding on his future.

"I plan on taking the next four to six months off before I make any decision on what I will do next,'' he said.

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