DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Hue Part 4 .. How much rope does he have ..

He gets 4 games. He better be 2-2 at worst or he is GONE.

Wow, you are exactly correct. It is in Hue's contract for a bigger payout if he's let go before season three. I'm not certain if it includes the entire third season or just getting into it but yes, you are actually right about that.

Why the Browns Made the Right Decision To Not Fire Hue Jackson


By JOE THOMAS January 23, 2018


In 2016 and ’17, the Cleveland Browns went 1–31. One win in two seasons. When you look at the record on it's own, it’s abysmal. Horrible. Monumentally poor. But I’m glad that the Browns, a team I’ve proudly spent my entire pro career with, decided to retain Hue Jackson as head coach after two awful seasons in the standings. It wouldn’t be fair to judge Hue based on his record after just two seasons because few NFL teams have put themselves at such a disadvantage in order to save assets and focus on winning three or four years down the road.

When Hue was hired as head coach, he had no understanding that management was going to trade all their good players and current draft picks for future picks. The front office’s strategy was to save as much cap space as possible over two years, get rid of almost all the veteran free agents and compound draft picks for future years. The guys in charge realized that if the team was willing to accept two really horrible years, we could get some top-five picks, and if we trade one to somebody else, were going to get two first rounders in the future and so on. As the head coach, Hue was expected to hold the team together, develop players and get them to play hard—when everyone in the building knew the front office put us in the best position to lose. It’s hard to split hairs on that comment.

Ultimately the degree of losing became simply unpalatable, and the guys who enacted the plan couldn’t see it through. The team realized that while some of those strategies may work to rebuild baseball teams, it doesn’t quite work the same way in the NFL; the pain of losing is so much greater in the NFL, and fans, management and coaches struggle to tolerate it.

But the wheels are in motion, and I believe the original plan will work. I’m more excited about the team’s direction than I’ve ever been before in Cleveland, because many people in the building understand what it means to truly tear down a football team and start over.

Think about when a new coach comes to a college football team. He runs off all the older players and develops the players he recruited. At the end of the first four years, they're better players than they would’ve been had they sat behind the veterans for two or three years. The strategy: Play all these rookies, see what you got, then when those players are hitting their stride, you have all this cap space to spend money in free agency and you give yourself the best chance to win in the third and fourth years.


MARK ALBERTI/ICON SPORTSWIRE
Welcome to Year 3. The Browns added three first-round picks in the NFL draft last April and have 12 picks in this year’s draft, including four picks in the first 35 and the No. 1 and No. 4 overall selections. And more importantly, in spite of playing with half a deck of cards, Hue kept the team together, kept the players focused, kept the coaches motivated and continued to develop players through two of the worst seasons ever. I don’t think many coaches could do that.

When Hue said, “nobody could have done the job that I did,” he took a lot of heat for it because it was perceived he was talking about the record. But he was talking about the way this team fought to the end, the way the players prepared and went out and played with as much passion and toughness and intensity as they did. There was nothing on the line, there was no reason to do it, but they still gave their best effort to the last play.

But the media turned on Hue, and I worried the team would be influenced into the wrong decision. Stay around the league long enough, and you realize there’s a big difference between team owners who grew up in the NFL and those who didn’t. The lifers in many cases have more patience; they understand that media and fans have roller-coaster mood swings. When the team is doing well, they heap praise, and when you’re doing poorly, they’ll criticize to no end. The coach has to be somewhere in the middle, with a steady approach, and it’s important not to listen to what they’re saying about the team, because those words and comments go into your head and start to affect the close decisions.

I understand that hirings and firings stir up controversy, which is great for the media—that makes the job fun and easy. What’s hard to communicate is nuance. It’s so much easier to say, ‘well, they've won one game in two years—time to fire the coach.’ The reality is there are plenty of bad coaches who have made the playoffs with good quarterbacks and plenty of good coaches who have never made the playoffs because they don’t have the quarterback, the supporting cast or the defense. It’s important not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Most players on the team think Hue’s a great head coach and really like him, but I’m sure there are some guys who don’t like him. When I was a younger player it was easy to either fall in love with the coach if you’re doing well and hate the coach if you’re doing poorly without knowing why. And just like fans, players can judge the coach based on the record. But as a player who’s been around more coaches and GMs than most players and seen different ways of operation, I can look beyond the record.

John Dorsey and Jimmy Haslam looked at why the team hired Hue in the first place. He was the hottest coach on the market for several years, developed QBs like Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton and went 8–8 as a head coach in his only full season. He’s a great leader, a great manager of coaches and a great x’s and o’s football guy. Firing him based on the record wouldn’t have been the right move.

And now we get to the fun part. We got rid of everybody we had that was really good for two years because we knew that we would be ahead of all the other teams in year three or four. We have more than $100 million in cap space; we could sign three Kirk Cousins if we wanted to. We could legitimately add three Hall of Fame players in free agency if they're out there. We have an upcoming No. 1 pick who could transform the roster by himself. You throw an experienced quarterback in the mix and there’s nothing that says the Browns can't make the playoffs next year.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/01/23/cleveland-browns-hue-jackson-head-coach

Wow... a lot was said in that article.

Joe even channeled his inner Hue and said all the good players were got rid of. I would imagine that's tough to hear if you're a player that's still in the building.

This reads as propaganda.

It is really hard for me to believe that Hue Jackson didn't know the plan.

Me thinks the Browns are getting their money's worth out of Joe's unasked for post-injury bonus. The must have a heckuva marketing person to come up with this: give your most popular player a little payola and in return have him talk about his confidence in the future, acknowledge failures of the past, but at the same time present it in a manner where it doesn't appear the last 2 years of The Plan were a waste.

Hey wasn't Jimmy's son in law some sort of marketing guy? And weren't there reports of his having some unknown involvement with the Browns right around the Sashi firing?

Awesome article. Joe is saying many of the same things that I have been saying for quite awhile. I wonder if the Hue Hate Club think Joe is clueless, too? I also wonder if they will ignore all of what Joe said and continue on w/their mindless mission to discredit Hue's character?

LMAO............Now it's a marketing ploy.

So now, we have guys like cfrs and Devil insinuating that Joe is a liar.

How low can' y'all go?

Was Joe in the room when they talked about it? If so link please.

Or is it speculation at this point?

Joe ws just on ESPN with Jeff Saturday he did a top ten list of why a QB should come to Cleveland and a wish for Drew Brees to come here.

He did a pretty good job.

Were you in the room? Do you play for the Browns?

I trust Joe more than you guys.

So must be speculation on Joes part or you would have provided a link instead of a snide remark.

They left off 7 one.

Do you play for the Browns? Do you know more about Hue than Joe Thomas does?

Nope neither do you so it's speculation not FACT.

I trust Joe Thomas. Are you calling him a liar when he says things like Hue was a good motivator, great at X's and Os, got guys to play hard, kept morale up despite, great at managing coaches, got his players well-prepared, etc?

Really Vambo? You are going to call Joe Thomas a "liar?"

j/c

I think that cements Joe's return. If not, he just made himself look like the ultimate paid-off lackey.

FWIW...Joe doesn't have to be a liar to be wrong in his assessment of Hue as a HC.

Hue is 1-31 as a HC here...there is nothing ANYONE can say to change that. I'll believe Joe (or you or anyone else) is correct when I see that Hue has turned his aura into Ws.

Yet, you guys were praising Sashi for extending Joe's contract.

And yet another one is questioning Joe's character.

That's how you guys roll.

Who is trying to change his record, but as Joe, myself, and few others are saying..........that record is far more indicative of the plan that Sashi orchestrated rather than Hue's coaching.

You keep deluding yourselves w/your hateful rhetoric. Sashi is gone. Hue is here. All the crying in the world isn't going to change that.

I'm saying you have no proof Hue DIDN'T KNOW THE PLAN and Joe was in the room when that was talked about, I think it's speculation on his part until you provide proof you can't in all honesty say it's FACT.

We have caught Hue telling lies.

Go ahead and spin, accuse Joe of being a liar, and pretend that nothing he said has any merit. I'm done because it's about to be ugly.

And they made Hue hire an OC and took play calling away from him...

It's possible to dislike someone's actions or words without questioning said person's character.

It's possible to disagree with someone's opinion without claiming that said person is a liar.

If Joe doesn't return after such a glowing endorsement he will look like a lackey. His only cred in his opinion of Hue is that as a player. If he doesn't ever have to play for Hue again, he's blowing a lot of hot air there.

Those pesky facts...always getting in the way of a good old fashioned meltdown.

You are the one putting the word "LIAR" and Joe Thomas together I said Speculation. I was talking about one particular statement which you leave out of you rant. I never said "nothing he said has any merit " you once again made that up.

Twist words all you want you can't prove it true. It may have been or may not have been you have no PROOF.

If Hue had no idea what he was signing on to, that actually speaks worse to who he is than the worst things that have been said about him so far. That's a ridiculously poor level of judgement for anyone to interview for the HC position of the Cleveland Browns and NOT ask the basic question: what is your plan for fixing this franchise? It requires even poorer judgement to not press the Browns for complete answers about said plan.

I've certainly had my criticisms of Hue, but I don't think he could be THAT dumb.

j/c:

I hope everyone is reading the replies that these guys are making. They are very revealing.

Sometimes, it might just be best to admit being wrong rather than proving to the world that not only are you wrong, but your pride prohibits you from accepting truths.

I harbor no hate for any person in this discussion.

I do not care that Sashi is gone.

I think Hue is an awful HC. His record and his actions speak way louder than I ever could.

Your meltdowns over differing opinions are remarkable.

Meltdown? LOL..............I am euphoric that Joe spoke up and revealed you guys true intent and absurdity. I am certainly not "melting down." I'm giddy.

Drama.

Wrong. You are in full meltdown. I hope you are ok.

LOL............coming from the guy who called Joe a paid lackey because he dared speak his mind.

You should stop. I am embarrassed for you and the others.

LOL...okay.

Don't be a liar Vers...you know that is not what I said.

He's got nothing that's why he's using character assassination.

So Joe is a liar and now I am a liar. Yet, you say I am the one "melting down."