The NFL has found itself in the midst of another controversy on Tuesday with the filing of a lawsuit by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. The lawsuit is has a myriad of accusations involved with it including that Dolphins Stephen Ross offered Flores bonuses to lose games and the team winning under Flores may have cost him his job.
The idea of “tanking” to help a team rebuild is not new. The Cleveland Browns, under Sashi Brown, looked at building a winner as a long-term process that required a lot of draft picks and as high of draft picks as possible.
While a team would never announce that they are losing on purpose, the Browns plan under Brown was clear from the outside looking in.
Tuesday night, the head coach under Brown at that time, Hue Jackson, and the executive director of his foundation made claims that Cleveland also offered money for losses:
I stand with Brian Flores. I can back up every word i’m saying.
— Hue Jackson (@huejack10) February 2, 2022
Jackson also replied to a fan challenging that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam would pay significant money for losses given Jackson 1-31 mark over the first two years:
Trust me it was a good number!
— Hue Jackson (@huejack10) February 2, 2022
Much as the Giants did shortly after Flores lawsuit, the Browns organization responded to Jackson’s claims Wednesday:
Statement from Browns Spokesperson:
The recent comments by Hue Jackson and his representatives relating to his tenure as our head coach are completely fabricated. Any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false— Dan Labbe (@dan_labbe) February 2, 2022
With Flores filing a lawsuit against the NFL, it is possible that Jackson and the Browns organization could become a part of it. Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports has also reported that Jackson lost a “confidential fraud grievance” against the Browns:
Some of the materials in Jackson’s possession stem from a confidential fraud grievance he brought against the Browns following his in-season firing in 2018. That grievance was handled by an arbitrator under the terms of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement. That arbitrator ultimately ruled against Jackson, although the judgment was not considered a definitive determination of fact.
For now, Cleveland’s spokesperson has made a clear statement against what Jackson said. Unless there is proof presented, fans and media are left to debate a “He said, they said” situation.