Jackson says Cleveland lied about rebuilding
Cowboys sign free agent safety Kazee from Falcons
CLEVELAND — Former Browns coach Hue Jackson said owner Jimmy Haslam gave him a contract extension midway through a winless 2017 season and that he was lied to from the start about the team’s rebuilding plans.
During a wide-ranging radio interview Monday with ESPN 850, Jackson said the Browns’ efforts to improve while he was with them were flawed by philosophical differences.
Jackson said he was never told by either Haslam or then-general manager Sashi Brown that the Browns were in a roster teardown or else he wouldn’t have accepted the job. He was Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator before being hired in Cleveland, where he went 0-16 in his second season and 3-36-1 over two-plus seasons before being fired.
“There is no doubt I was lied to by ownership and the executive team,” Jackson said, adding there was a divide between the coaching staff and management.
A team spokesman said the Browns would not comment on Jackson’s claims.
Jackson said he signed a contract extension midway through the 2017 season — he was 1-23 at the time with Cleveland — and wanted to make it public, but the team refused.
The 55-year-old said he’s writing a book about his time with the Browns. The team went 1-15 in Jackson’s first season, winless the second — joining the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only teams to go 0-16 — and he was dismissed after a 2-5-1 start in 2018.
COWBOYS: The Dallas Cowboys signed free agent safety Damontae Kazee on Monday, adding another player from new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s time as coach in Atlanta.
Kazee joins Keanu Neal, his teammate the past four seasons with the Falcons. Neal is likely to play safety and linebacker for the Cowboys, who gave up the most points in franchise history while going 6-10 in coach Mike McCarthy’s debut last year.
CHIEFS: The Kansas City Chiefs and defensive tackle Jarran Reed agreed to a $5 million, one-year contract that could be worth up to $7 million and gives the AFC champions another interior pass rusher to play alongside Chris Jones. The deal was reached late Sunday. VIKINGS: The Minnesota Vikings have added more seasoning to their secondary, signing cornerback Mackensie Alexander and safety Xavier Woods to one-year contracts.
The Vikings finalized the deals on Monday, when Alexander quickly reacquainted himself with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2016 out of Clemson. He left as a free agent last year for Cincinnati, where he started 10 games in the nickel role for the Bengals.
Woods played his first four seasons for Dallas after being drafted in the sixth round in 2017 out of Louisiana Tech.
49ERS: For San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, the biggest risk wasn’t trading three first-round picks for the No. 3 selection where he could take a shot on the franchise quarterback of the future.
The chance he didn’t want to take going forward anymore was going into a season without an elite quarterback who he believes can consistently carry a team to a Super Bowl.
This was by far the biggest chance the 49ers have taken since Shanahan and general manager John Lynch arrived in 2017. San Francisco traded the No. 12 overall pick, plus additional first-rounders in 2022 and ’23 and a compensatory third-round pick in 2023 to Miami last Friday for the No. 3 selection in a quarterback-rich draft.
With Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence almost assured of being picked first by Jacksonville and speculation that the New York Jets will take BYU’s Zach Wilson second, Shanahan said the 49ers made the deal because they were comfortable taking at least three of the QBs in a class that also includes Ohio State’s Justin Fields, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance and Alabama’s Mac Jones.
Now instead of being “left at the altar” at No. 12 when looking for a quarterback, Shanahan believes he will be able to grab the players who will eventually replace Jimmy Garoppolo as starter.