The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Sashi Brown should be fired before 2018 draft
Early in the Oct. 15 telecast of the Browns’ latest humiliation, announcer Catalon dropped a revealing nugget.
Hue Jackson got testy during news conferences last week when asked whether he advocated drafting Deshaun Watson, and now we know why.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s in Houston,” the Browns head coach barked.
Jackson apparently didn’t want to throw his boss, Sashi Brown, under the team bus.
Early in the Oct. 15 telecast of the Browns’ latest humiliation, play-by-play announcer Andrew Catalon dropped a revealing nugget. During the production meeting with the Texans the night before the game, Watson, according to Catalon, told the CBS crew that he, Watson, received a text from Jackson on the morning of the 2017 draft.
“Be ready,” the text said.
Jackson was asked about the text in his postgame news conference and denied sending it.
“I know I did not send that text on draft day,” Jackson told reporters. “I knew who we were taking with the first pick. We got the guy (defensive end Myles Garrett) we wanted.
“I don’t remember making a text to him on draft day other than later on telling him congratulations on being drafted where he went. I don’t remember telling him to be ready for us to draft him or anything like that. I wouldn’t have done that.”
Jackson’s explanation makes no sense. The Browns could have taken Garrett with the first pick and Watson 12th.
Watson gave his version to reporters in the Texans’ locker room after the game: “Me and Hue, during the draft process, kind of communicated,” Watson said. “Hue texted me that morning and just said, ‘Be ready. Anything can happen.’ They took the picks they want to take. I belong in this situation and this organization. But the relationship and the friendship (with Hue Jackson) will always continue.”
The text turned out to advance notice, but not in the way Jackson would have meant. Instead, Brown, the Browns’ executive vice president of football operations, traded the 12th pick to the Texans for pick 25 in 2017 and Houston’s first-round pick next year. The Texans picked Watson.
That 12th pick, originally belonging to Philadelphia, was part of the bounty Brown acquired in the 2016 draft when he traded the second pick to the Eagles, which Philadelphia used on quarterback Carson Wentz.
Brown would have looked smart using the pick acquired from Philadelphia to pick Watson, whose college pedigree at Clemson foretold his success in the NFL. A first-round haul of Garrett, Watson and tight end David Njoku would have been a good start to turning the Browns around.
Brown didn’t have the guts to pick Watson. It’s much easier to keep trading down than make a commitment to a quarterback. Brown’s inexperience keeps showing.
The Texans paid a steep price to get Watson. But now they have their franchise quarterback. The Browns are still searching for theirs.
Watson doesn’t play like a rookie. He threw three touchdown passes, matching the number of interceptions thrown by Browns quarterback Kevin Hogan, in a 33-17 Texans victory that wasn’t nearly that close.
The Browns are 0-6 this year. They are 1-21 under the leadership of Brown, former baseball executive Paul DePodesta, and director of player personnel Andrew Berry. If the Browns were blind squirrels, they’d have gone hungry again. They will never find that elusive acorn in 2017 the way they’re playing.
Now Jackson has a decision to make: Go back to DeShone Kizer, who was benched for regressing in games 2 through 5, or give Hogan another chance after he completed 20 of 37 passes for 140 yards and one late touchdown pass in his first NFL start. He was sacked four times and was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, resulting in a safety.
“I said this was week to week,” Jackson said in his post-mortem. “I never said Kevin was going to be the starter the rest of the season. I’ll watch the tape and go from there and make a decision next week. If I’m changing quarterbacks, I’m going back to DeShone.”
Going back to Kizer after one week is a sign of desperation. One week on the sideline isn’t going to change the rookie from the quarterback that turned the ball over 11 times in five games. Staying with Hogan for the game against the Titans Oct. 22 is a sign of futility.
The Browns wouldn’t be in this mess if Brown had stayed at 12 and picked Watson. They wouldn’t be in this mess had he kept the second pick last year and drafted Wentz.
Watson has 15 touchdown passes this season. Wentz threw three more touchdown passes on Oct. 12 and has now has 13.
Watson began play Week 6 ranked seventh among starting quarterbacks. Wentz was ranked ninth.
Kizer, Brown’s quarterback choice, ranked 32nd.
We’ve seen enough. Brown should pay for his incompetence with his job before he gets his mitts on another draft.
Reach Schudel at JSchudel@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @jsproinsider