The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Jackson: ‘My job is to coach the football team’
Hue Jackson, tasked with coaching a team being built to win in 2018 and beyond, won’t endorse the plan set in place by Browns owners along with EVP of Football Operations Sashi Brown.
Jimmy and Dee Haslam, with Jackson present, met one day last week with about a dozen players of the Browns’ leadership committee. Brown was not present.
The players are mum on any questions they might have asked the Haslams, but the gist of the message from the pair was the owners appreciate the effort of the players and they believe the sacrifice of trading down in 2016 and 2017 to accumulate draft picks for 2018 will pay off.
“I think it was good dialogue,” left guard Joel Bitonio, who was part of the meeting, said Nov. 20. “We’re in the battle every day. (The owners) are here supporting us, but they want to know from our perspective what needs to change and what’s doing well.
“You don’t think you’re going to lose as much as we’ve lost. It sucks. It pulls at my heartstrings, but I have faith in what we’re doing. I know we’ve rebuilt from the ground up. It’s a slow process.
“I just hope everyone sticks with us long enough to see what’s coming in the future, because I do believe we have the right pieces in place. There are a few other things we need, but I do believe we’re moving in the right direction.”
The Browns have the youngest team in the NFL with an average age of 24.24 years. They will have more than $59 million in salary cap room when free agency opens in March and they have two draft picks in the first round, three in the second round in April and seven more picks overall in the 2018 draft.
Meanwhile, the Browns are 1-25 on Jackson’s watch — 1-15 last year and 0-10 this season.
“The plan that’s in place, let me say this: My job isn’t to say it is or isn’t (work- ing),” Jackson said at his Nov. 20 news conference. “My job is to coach the football team. That’s what I was hired here to do. I wasn’t hired here with a plan. I was hired here to coach this football team and get them to be the best I can get them to be, and that’s what I want to concentrate on.
“That’s my attitude, and my attitude’s not going to change. I’m not talking about no plan. I’m talking about coaching our team.
“There hasn’t been a player that wanted to ask me anything about a plan, other than what’s the game plan for the week. Whatever they felt, that was answered by ownership the other day. I think that group feels better about where they’re headed and what we’re trying to accomplish.”
“The plan” so far has resulted in the Browns losing right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, safety Tashaun Gipson, center Alex Mack and wide receiver/punt returner Travis Benjamin in free agency. Middle linebacker Demario Davis was traded in March to the Jets for safety Calvin Pryor, who was cut in training camp. Veteran cornerback Joe Haden was cut just before the start of the regular season.
The stockpile of draft picks was acquired at the expense of passing on quarterback Carson Wentz in the 2016 draft and quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2017. The Eagles are 9-1. Watson had 19 touchdown passes through eight games before suffering a seasonending knee injury in practice.
“Things aren’t great; let’s be honest,” Jackson said. “I’m not going to run from that. But I’m not judging the plan. I’ve got to coach.”