Browns fire VP; coach Jackson keeps job for ’18
CLEVELAND — Sashi Brown brought analytics, a bevy of draft picks and some stability to the Cleveland Browns.
In the end, losing mattered most.
With the Browns not winning and still the NFL’s saddest franchise, owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam decided it was time to make yet another change at the top before things got any worse.
Unable to produce more than one win over two seasons, Brown was fired on Thursday by the Haslams, who jettisoned their lead football executive but chose Sashi Brown to keep coach Hue Jackson around for another season despite a 1-27 record.
In announcing Brown’s firing, which was expected given the team’s sorry state, Jimmy Haslam also said Jackson will return in 2018.
“I appreciate Jimmy saying that,” Jackson said following practice as the Browns (0-12) prepared to host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. “My focus of coming here to the Cleveland Browns is to coach the football team and help get this organization turned around. I haven’t been able to do that yet. That is something that I think we all want to do — Jimmy and Dee, obviously. Hue Jackson
“Hopefully, I am still a part of that, which I am, and hopefully, our players that are here, a year from now, hopefully, we can get this thing to where it needs to be.”
Brown positioned the Browns to be better in the future by acquiring more draft picks, but passing on quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson the past two years and other questionable decisions with the roster sealed his fate.
“I want this to be real and clear, the way I know Cleveland and Browns fans can appreciate: Our win-loss record since I became executive vice president isn’t going to cut it,” Brown said in a statement released by the team. “We embarked on a mission to rebuild the Browns for longterm, sustainable success. We were committed and aggressive in our approach, even if unorthodox at times. We made dramatic changes and put in place a foundation on which championships can be built.
“Obviously, the Browns have not yet achieved the turnaround we wanted for a franchise and the best fans in the NFL, who deserve it more than any other in sports. I know that turnaround is coming.”
Jackson’s survival would indicate he won a power struggle over Brown, the team’s former legal counsel who had no previous experience running a team.
The football and personnel departments have clashed over roster decisions and the growing tensions — along with the abysmal record — gave Haslam the impetus to make more changes despite promising continuity when the season began.