BROWNS GM DORSEY SAYS IT’S OWNERS’ CALL ON JACKSON
Browns’ new boss walks back talk of roster, expectations.
New Browns CLEVELAND —
General Manager John Dorsey declined to guarantee coach Hue Jackson would return for the 2018 season during a radio interview last week.
But when Dorsey faced questions Tuesday about Jackson’s future in a 15-minute interview with another radio station, the executive repeatedly referred to owner Jimmy Haslam vowing two weeks ago to keep Jackson for next season.
“Hue and I have a really good relationship,” Dorsey said on the show. “First off, I think ownership has said that Hue would be back. With that, I’m excited to work with him here. I’ve been really impressed with how Hue messages to the player. I’ve always thought that head coaches should be leaders of men, and when I watch Hue talk to the team and how hard guys play for him, that’s exciting.
“We’ve sat down. We’ve had great conversations, and part of those conversations have been talking about trying to build that strategic plan for the 2018 season as well. And I think as long as the head coach and the GM are on the same mindset, I have to understand — this is how I view things — I want to understand what makes the Cleveland Browns’ offense successful by position. I want to understand what makes the Cleveland Browns’ defense successful by positional specifics.
“Once I get that clear objective of that, I can go get the types of players for this coaching staff to move forward and create that competition that we continually talk about.”
Asked if Jackson is 100 percent going to be the coach of the Browns in Week 1 of the 2018 season, Dorsey said, “I think ownership has already spoken on that question.” Dorsey then gave the same answer when asked if Jackson would remain the coach if it were the GM’s choice.
The Browns were 0-12 at the time of Dorsey’s introductory news conference on Dec. 8. They were staring at 0-16 then, and they still are after losing two more games and falling to 0-14 with road matchups against the Chicago Bears (4-10) on Sunday and the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-3) on Dec. 31 remaining. During that news conference, Haslam was asked if Jackson would return no matter how the rest of this season unfolded.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Haslam replied. “I think it would be a mistake to just zero in on ’18. We are planning on Hue Jackson being our football coach for a long time, and he and John working closely together for a long time.”
Haslam’s promise came a day after he fired Sashi Brown as the organization’s head of football operations and said in a statement, “Hue Jackson will remain our coach and will return for the 2018 season but we feel it is necessary to take significant steps to strengthen our personnel department.”
Amid national reports that Dorsey might advise Haslam after the season to hire a new coach, the GM was asked if he has a wish list of a candidates.
“That’s one of those questions that’s speculation,” Dorsey replied, “and again, I live in the present.”
Last week, Dorsey defended Jackson by saying Brown didn’t acquire “real players” for the coach. Yet Dorsey backtracked Tuesday and said he doesn’t take shots at previous regimes.
“I am not a professional wordsmith. I’m a football guy, OK?” Dorsey said. “My intent was to say we don’t have enough good football players. There’s some good football players on this team, and if I have my way, we’ll get more football players. We’ll create that competitive depth at every position that you do in order to succeed.
“Are there some good, young football players on this team? You bet there are. But you know what? We’re going to get some more football players on this team, and we’re going to get some W’s here, too.”
Dorsey also walked back the statement he made last week about winning the AFC North next season being his “total objective” and how he would consider anything else “unacceptable.”
“I’m just telling you, y’all are professional wordsmiths, y’all twisted my words last week,” Dorsey said. “Here’s what I said: I said, ‘I want to be competitive year in and year out in the AFC North.’ That’s what you do. You have to capture that. The Steelers are a good football team. The [Baltimore] Ravens are a good football team. The [Cincinnati] Bengals are a good football team. But you know what? The Cleveland Browns are going to be pretty good because we’re going to be competitive next year.”