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As part of the proposed class-action lawsuit Brian Flores filed against the NFL, one allegation noted was that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered Flores $100,000 to intentionally lose games to improve draft positioning. Now former Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson is implying that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam did the same. The 56-year-old Jackson has been out of the NFL since the middle of the 2018 season when the Browns dismissed him; he is currently the head coach of Grambling State University.
Jackson went on Twitter to express support for Flores, and responding to a tweet that said Haslam wasn’t offering Jackson $100,000 per loss, Jackson replied: “Trust me it was a good number!” Jackson went 3-36-1 in two-and-a-half seasons with the Browns, going 1-15 in his first season and 0-16 in his second. The Browns ended up with consecutive No. 1 draft picks in the 2017 and 2018 NFL drafts, taking defensive end Myles Garrett and quarterback Baker Mayfield, respectively, with those selections.
In another thread on Twitter, Kimberly Diemert — listed as the executive director of the Hue Jackson Foundation — posted a tweet that said she had records that would help Flores’ case. Diemert claimed that the Browns paid bonus money to Jackson and front office executives Sashi Brown, Paul DePodesta and Andrew Berry to lose, claiming NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league knew about it and covered it up.
In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, a Browns spokesperson denied the allegations: “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.”
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