DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Jimmy's Biggest Mistake

Your take on the biggest one. The single most stupid thing he has done.

I've gone on record as saying that it all stems back to him brining in Banner as his high priest of football. It didn't work out and set him back exponentially. If he had just started with somebody like Ron Wolf and his son, let them run with it, and backed off we would probably be in playoff contention by now. I can argue this at length. Banner and Lombardi led into Farmer, which led into...

When I step back, I realize there was a moment when even the Lombanner deal could have worked. I now believe that if Jimmy were able to park his freakin jet in San Francisco airport, use his good ol boy sales skills, and not leave until he sold Harbaugh's wife on taking over our team, it would have changed everything. That was his shot. He let it slip. If it was me, I would have left her access to my private jet to fly her and the kids all over the world at her beck and call. It's a solution that equates to pocket change when looking at how to fix the problem. We had access to a winner. We really haven't had one since Paul Brown. I thought Butch might have been one, once Big Show decided to not coach the team his value went right out the door. Harbaugh would have gotten it done. IMO Jimmy's inability to close the deal is by far his biggest mistake.

I thought the Pilot stuff happened after Banner was hired. Unless you mean, Haslem knew something was coming. I mean the guy hired a Pepsi exec to run Pilot so he could focus more on the Browns.

I've always thought Banner was forced upon him by the NFL as part of becoming an owner. The moment the sale went through, Banner's named was tied to the organization. Tons of articles referring to that.

His biggest mistake was buying the team.

I guess the NFL has done some crazy things but knowing about an FBI investigation and still handing over an NFL franchise to Haslem doesn't make much sense to me.

Taking advice from the homeless.

Firing people too quick.

He hired Banner (who hired Lombardi). Banner hired Chud (who brought Norv and Horton with him). Banner had an actual plan, but was fired before he could implement it (the plan was probably very similar to the one we are currently carrying out).

The Banner firing led to the Farmer/Pettine tenures, which just set us back two extra years.

WOW .... Swish ... *LOL* ...

When i saw the thread title I said those exact words ... *LOL* ..

I can't believe we FINALLY AGREE on something .. guess it was bound ot happen ... *LOL* ..

With that said ...

HIS EGO ... he needs to hire FOOTBALL PEOPLE and let them do their jobs ... I really hope the LAWYER (witch we tried with Policy) and the MONEYBALLLER really works out ... but i HIGHLY DOUBT IT ...

Until he HIRES GOOD FOOTBALL people and learns to keep his nose ot of things ..

WERE DOOMED ....

I wonder if their ice skating in hell today Swish ... *L* ...

IMO, meddling and pressuring the FO into drafting Johnny. It set our franchise back more than anything else to this point

This is by far the most reasonable take in the thread.

Some of the others read like a fantasy novel.

Allowing the snake Lombardi in the door. This began the decisions of deceptions. They slipped in him during the draft hoping no one would notice, really happened. Banner and Chud would still be here without that single hire. It set the stage for all the backstabbing and manipulation that ruled the last couple of years.

They didn't slip Lombardi in during the draft. He was attached with Banner from the very beginning. It was the worst kept secret in the NFL and it was simply a matter of time before it became official.Then out of the blue some random Friday morning in January, the Browns announced the hiring of Mike with a press conference just two hours later, giving press limited time to attend, because everyone knew Cleveland would hate it.

They were right about that.

http://waitingfornextyear.com/2013/01/nf...ayer-personnel/

If hiring Lombardi was the wrong decision, then hiring Banner was also wrong. By all accounts, Haslam put his trust in Banner and Banner wanted Lombardi.

Maybe the biggest mistake was bringing in Banner?

(I liked both Banner and Lombardi at the time of their hiring.)

Yes. Hiring Banner was a huge mistake as far as I'm concerned. If was strictly on the business side, maybe not. Football-wise...absolutely.

actually, maybe his biggest mistake was buying the Browns and not the "next" franchise available

I remember when they had Lombardi call in on the local radio stations, WKNR, 92.3 and WTAM to try and re-invent himself in the eyes of Cleveland fans and media.

I'll never forgot him calling Mike Trivisonno and Triv saying to Lombardi, "Hey Mike, I gotta tell you something straight up. I don't like you. I don't like you at all." There was an awkward silence for about 10 seconds, lol.

The hiring of Mike Lombardi was such a Browns things to do in the long line of Browns things that have happened. That was doomed from the start.

Haslam's biggest mistake so far, imo, has been his inability to hire proven winners with successful track records. The next would be his quick trigger.

The Browns seem to hire guys that have never held their current position before. At the same time, this also reflects on the franchises reputation since '99. Proven and successful NFL folks want no part of this abortion.

The perception and reality of what the Cleveland Browns are as seen by others in the NFL bit Haslam in the ass when he bought the team and he has done nothing to remedy the stigma.

If the Revenge of the Nerds and Hue don't get this right or are not given at least a chance to get it right, it just may never happen.

I am now hoping and praying I can go out and find audio of this . . .

That is our mistake, not his mistake.

Although they may not have served in the position they were hired to do, they have hired respected people several times. Most of the people who are proven and/or successful either have jobs (people like Ozzie Newsome) or are retired (Parcells, Wolf, etc.). We hired many people who were very respected around the league (Savage, Heckert, even Farmer). That is how the league works, when you have an opening, you hire someone from another team (or from a lower position at your own team) to take a step up.

With regards to Haslam, he hired Banner who was both proven and successful. Some would say it was a mistake to give Banner control over the roster, but Banner himself would tell you that he had a lot to do with the roster in Philadelphia.

This leads me to believe that Haslam's biggest mistake is actually not following through with one plan. He quit early on Banner/Lombardi/Chud and Farmer/Pettine (I think he had to get out of that one).

My only hope is that he at least sees through the current approach (I am more optimistic than most when it comes to the current direction as I am very engaged in the analytics movements in other sports). Changing the direction of the franchise every year or two only sets it back more.

I believe it was the same day Lombardi was hired, January 18th 2013. Good luck.

Another failure of Haslam is making sure the guys he hires stay in their lanes. This jockeying for power has plagued the Browns since '99 as well.

*LOL* at the revenge of the nerds .... that was great ... may i borrow it from time to time? ...

CFR - Banner may say he had alot to do with the roster in Phili .. that would be BS ... unless your talking about doing contracts and dealing with the salary cap ...

He had ZERO to do with the roster in Phili ..

He tried to move in on Reid's territory and Reid told crap .. having a brain fart on their owner's name ... u choose ... bye bye Banner .. Lurie .. i believe .. and Banner and Lurie were really good friends up til that point ...

The GM left a year or so earlier .. can't recall his name either ... thats what created the "power vacuum" ..

Banner said alot of things that weren't true ... alot of things .. that man was big fat LIAR ... he had no cred left around the league by the time he left here ... and he was only here for a year .. *L* ..

He's had two big mistakes in my eyes.

As you say, Banner. The man was part of the FO of a successful team in Philly, but he wasn't ever "THE MAN" there that picked talent. Near as I can tell, he ran the Business of Football, not the Football Business. (if you can get the distinction)

In no small part, allowing Banner to hire Lombardi probably contributed but I can't really fault him for that too much. He just hired Banner to be his guru and Banner apparently wanted Lombardi. So I get that. Right or wrong, he gave his guy the guy he wanted.

The second was putting Farmer in charge after Banner was released. But I can see why he did that. Farmer at least had the time in grade for his career to warrant the shot.

As for this knew regime, I guess we'll find out as time goes by.

I think your timing is off on that one Eo.

Ticking mac off!

j/c:

I think the dumbest thing he has done is fire Banner. I truly believe we would have a winner here by now had Banner stayed.

And it is amusing that so many who like the current plan hated Banner. If you only knew..........

Feel free to use it.

In regards to Banner, he never missed an opportunity to take credit for the Reid hire in Philly. Banner is still getting trolled by Browns fans on Twitter and defending that Leon McFadden pick, lol. Banner is/was another example in a long line of examples of guys that got hired for a position they weren't qualified to perform.

The Banner era feels like eons ago given the yearly changes we have become accustomed to.

Just imagine if the bid to win the browns had been won by Bill Cosby .... Haslem is not necessarily the worse case scenario ... just sayin'...

he would have raped our wallets even worse than Jimmy

Is that somehow suppose to make me feel better ... cause it don't ...

Thanks for trying ..

Great thread! I can pretty much make an argument for each and every response I have read. So many mistakes to consider, hard to rank them. So instead, I will simply add one specific example of meddling ownership that I haven't seen yet.

2014 season, Pettine's first year. They are sitting at 6-4 and atop the AFC North with 6 games to go. They are physically dominating teams with the run game. Our O-line is killing it using Shanahan's zone blocking scheme. We physically man-handled Pittsburgh and then Cinci on a Thursday night game. While Hoyer doesn't appear to be the next coming of Joe Montana, he is certainly winning games and not losing them. Then, Hoyer has a bad game. Coincidently, it was the first game that Josh Gordon is back (I think against Atlanta). They end up winning, but the calls for Johnny start. Then Hoyer has a bad game that we lose (Forget the opponent). Then the switch is made. Johnny gets the start against Cinci at home. I don't care to rehash what happened next.

Now, I'm going to go a little bit conspiracy theorist here as I don't have facts to back up what I am about to write. I believe this was about the same time the Browns got popped for sending texts down to the sideline. Supposedly, Farmer was texting to an aide that he needed to let Pettine know to put Johnny in. Not positive, just going from hear-say. If that is true, there is no doubt in my mind that came from Haslam. You can't tell me that Farmer didn't know he wasn't supposed to do that. Consider that Farmer is a first year GM and his boss sitting next to him (Who has a reputation of Firing people on a whim), tells him to get word to coach to make a change. Farmer is going to do it. I doubt he just takes it upon himself to break a league rule. Could be wrong, but putting the pieces together, they seem to fit.

Now the dominoes that fall as a result of that non-sense are many:

1. Our OC who was doing a great job with a strong O-line and few skill players gets pissed. When have you ever seen an up and coming coordinator, who is having success quit as Shanahan did at the end of that year. I suspect he didn't want to be micro-managed and realized Manziel would be forced on him. Having seen Johnny's antics that year, he said Later!
2. The rest of the season spirals out of control. The team realizes what's going on. Some punk kid is coming to work hungover and not putting in the effort, and the Front Office dictates he plays. Locker room is immediately lost.
3. Pettine is done. I believe Pettine had the makings of a good coach. But the team realized that Pettine was powerless given the FO penchant for undermining him.
4. This fiasco was most likely what turned Mack against the team. Notice who the OC is for the team he signed with?

Anyways, I can go on and on about how Jimmy butting into that situation at that time caused a major ripple effect that we still haven't recovered from. But I suspect I have already bored a few of you guys. Suffice to say, I am just hoping and praying that Jimmy is learning from his mistakes.

I totally agree...guy had NO business owning an NFL franchise or any business for that matter. Heck the only reason he owns the Browns is because he inherited the Pilot-J company from his dad. He will go down as the worst owner in the history of pro sports period and every decision this criminal has made since owning the team has been as bad as the team itself. We're doomed until the guy either kicks the bucket or is thrown in prison.

But what do you really think our Haslem?

At that point Dee his wife would run the team.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam recently held a full staff meeting in Berea and preached continuity after what could be only the second 0-16 season in the history of the NFL, sources confirmed for cleveland.com

CBS Sports' Jason LaCanfora first reported the meeting.

Sources told him that speakers at the meeting included Jimmy and Dee Haslam, Hue Jackson, Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown and Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta.

The meeting, which took place a couple of weeks ago, was intended to calm the waters in the face of the now 0-12 season, and boost morale of a staff that's lived through the Browns 3-30 record since the end of 2014.

Through a team spokesman, Jimmy Haslam declined to address the media at the bye week regarding the winless season and his postseason intentions.

But he handled it internally in front of a staff that's watched him fire three head coaches and numerous high level executives since he took over in October of 2012. The coaches were Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinksi and Mike Pettine. The executives were GMs Tom Heckert, Mike Lombardi and Ray Farmer, and CEO Joe Banner. He also parted ways with team president Alec Scheiner.

The Browns should hired an accomplished football GM and give him final say over roster
The Browns should hired an accomplished football GM and give him final say over roster
Jimmy Haslam has a gaping hole at the top of his personnel department. It's an accomplished football GM who's built a roster for a winning team. He should not only hire one, but give him final say.

So the building is naturally curious, what with the Browns hurtling toward 0-16 and being criticized locally and nationally for questionable decisions in the draft and free agency.

Sources told LaCanfora that Haslam blamed previous regimes for the team's current plight, especially poor drafting over the last three seasons. That included the abysmal 2014 draft, in which the Browns selected first-rounders Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel, who were both colossal busts. Farmer shouldered blame for the picks, although Haslam is believed to have liked Manziel too.

Haslam also blamed his previous hires and his decisions to blow up three regimes in his short tenure for the team's current slump. He apologized for the bad drafting from 2013-15 that left the team bereft of talent.

But he apparently made no mention of augmenting the personnel staff to make sure the Browns are well-positioned for this pivotal offseason, in which they'll likely have the No. 1 overall pick and four in the first 50. There's some thought that they might add a veteran consultant to the mix.

Haslam and others cited collaboration between the team's departments, and asked staffers to keep the faith in the vision. Haslam also gave his football decision-makers a vote of confidence and assured everyone he has the right people in place.

The Browns are taking heat from analysts such as former NFL top personnel executive Bill Polian, who recently criticized them on ESPN for putting their quarterbacks in harm's way by fielding such a gutted team. He also criticized the reliance on analytic for football decisions, saying it's not like baseball. He said acquiring extra picks in rounds four, five and six is essentially a waste of time.

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2016/12/browns_jimmy_haslam_preaches_c.html

I really don't see how people think we should blow it up or bring in a "football guy". It looks like the Browns are finally beginning to collaborate within their front office. It sounds like they have open lines of communications and might have their crap together for next offseason. Let's just hope Haslam doesn't listen to anymore homeless people. I mean, you'd have to be crazy to want to listen to whatever Polian says. What does he know about being a GM? Have the greatest QB to ever play the game and only get him one super bowl win? Ha. That's like bringing in Holmgren all over again. I swear, too many people get caught up in losing, that they just long for mediocrity as a goal. You see it happen all the time, with the bottom 3 college teams in the P5 divisions, teams at the bottom of the table in European soccer, you even see it in the NFL with Cincinnati and the LA Rams. So yeah, if you want plaguing mediocrity, then go sign a "football guy" like Polian's sons. This makes me rather optimistic going into next year.

It will work itself out. If we draft poor again and go 0-12 again then its reboot. We have a decent coaching staff. Not that great at drafting or roster filling

This is a mistake.