Part of what became famous class action lawsuit filed Tuesday, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores alleges Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 for every “tank” loss during the NFL season 2019, perhaps so that Miami can draft the first quarterback Joe Burrow.
Ross strongly refuse announced this in a statement released Thursday, but former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson added his name to the mix earlier this week when he speaking via Twitter and media interviews he has been encouraged to lose during his tenure with the Browns, which included a 1-31 part from the start of the 2016 season through the end of the next campaign.
The Browns deny this via a statement, and team owner Jimmy Haslam went a step further in the comments provided to Adam Sparks by the Knoxville News Sentinel.
“Clearly, Hue Jackson was never paid to lose games,” Haslam said. “It was an absolute lie. And it was also an absolute lie that I laughed when we lost. Most of the people who knew me would say, ‘That’s not how Jimmy would react when we lost.’ loser.’
“In the 15-minute ESPN interview that he did, for about 14 and a half minutes, it was about how he was treated so badly with the Browns family and so many claims he had.”
Haslam added:
“Hue Jackson never took any responsibility for our record in that time period. He’s adept at pointing but never took any blame. I’ve taken a lot. many mistakes, and rightly so. There are so many things I could have done ‘have done better. Hue has never accepted the blame for a single thing.”
The Browns drafted winger Baker Mayfield first in 2018 but fired Jackson that season after they started 2-5-1. Cleveland ultimately ended that campaign with a 7-8-1 record.
“I can’t think of any individual I’ve worked with over the past 45 years that I’ve spent as much time trying to achieve as Hue Jackson,” Haslam explains. “His third year, when our squad started to improve significantly, the 8 games he coached us were 2-5-1. After Hue was eliminated, we drew 5-3. .”
