Among the many fallout from Brian Flores’ lawsuit focused on the NFL is a microscope positioned upon the maybe suspiciously horrible Browns groups in 2016 and ’17.
Included in Flores’ explosive go well with is a declare that Dolphins proprietor Stephen Ross supplied him $100,000 per loss throughout the 2019 season as a method to tank for a prime draft choose, which Roger Goodell stated Saturday exterior consultants would examine.
Because the declare turned public, former Browns coach Hue Jackson first recommended there was an identical scheme in Cleveland earlier than backing off — however including nuance to his scenario.
Jackson, who presided over the 1-31 Browns from 2016-17, stated that although he wasn’t instantly bribed to lose, there was a “plan” to incentivize dropping video games.
“While you speak about incentivizing a four-year plan that led to the crew not with the ability to play as properly, that folks benefited off of that — that’s totally different,” Jackson advised CNN on Friday evening, evaluating his Browns to Flores’ Dolphins.
In accordance with Jackson, Browns proprietor Jimmy Haslam needed to lose (which, if true, was well-executed. The Browns had back-to-back No. 1 picks.)
“I advised Jimmy that what he was doing was very damaging, to not do that as a result of it’s going to harm my profession and each different coach that labored with me and each participant on the crew,” Jackson, who's Black, advised Anderson Cooper. “And I advised him that it might harm each Black coach that may comply with me. And I've the paperwork to show this.”
Of that documentation, Jackson stated, “These issues will come to mild on the proper time.”
Haslam has stated he didn't pay Jackson to lose video games and the notion that he loved dropping is “an absolute falsehood.”
“Hue Jackson has by no means ever accepted any duty for our report throughout that point interval,” Haslam advised Knox Information this week. “He’s been masterful at pointing fingers however has by no means accepted any blame. I've accepted a ton of blame, and rightfully so.”
In a memo circulating the league, Goodell stated the league takes “significantly any subject regarding the integrity of NFL video games.” The commissioner stated impartial consultants will evaluate claims, which now might embody Cleveland in addition to Miami.
Whereas the allegation that the Browns had been paying for losses has evaporated, there nonetheless are whiffs regarding tanking. The Browns fielded younger groups, gave extended seems at DeShone Kizer and Cody Kessler and, most generously, had been looking for progress if not victories.
Veteran defensive again Jason McCourty stated there was “no approach” the Browns had been attempting to win video games in 2017, when he spent a season in Cleveland.
“It was very apparent. That's to no shock to anybody. You don’t want me to corroborate the story and say, ‘We had been tanking, we had been attempting to lose.’ Duh,” McCourty stated on his “Double Protection” podcast. “…You don’t simply go 1-31. It’s not that arduous to determine on the opposite finish of it.”
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