CLEVELAND, Ohio - Browns coach Hue Jackson sat in his office at his east side Cleveland home on a dreary Thursday morning, wishing he were at work getting the 2-5-1 Browns ready to face the 7-1 Chiefs.
"I've never done this before,'' he said of not having a game to prepare for during the week.
After Sunday's 33-18 loss to the Steelers, Jackson was hoping to persuade owner Jimmy Haslam to let him take back the offense, which had been floundering all season under new offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Jackson had let Haley run the show, and the offense sputtered behind a rookie quarterback in Baker Mayfield, a rookie left tackle in Desmond Harrison and a skeleton crew at receiver ever since Josh Gordon was traded.
Instead, Haslam and Browns GM John Dorsey went into Jackson's office that morning and told him he was fired. Jackson, 3-36-1, tried to remind Haslam of the reasons he brought him back for 2018, citing the failed all-analytics experiment of his first two seasons and a chance to coach a better roster.
Shortly after Haslam and Dorsey fired Jackson, they canned Haley, who also didn't see it coming, according to a source close to him. They named defensive coordinator Gregg Williams interim head coach and running backs coach/associate head coach Freddie Kitchens offensive coordinator.
Later that afternoon in a press conference, Haslam said the message was "we're not going to put up with internal discord.'' He was referring to the disconnect that began with Haley during training camp and continued on throughout the season.
Here are some excerpts from cleveland.com'slusive sitdown with Jackson, in which he read from some of his own notes and then answered a limited amount of questions:
On if he was blindsided by the firing
"I was surprised. I'm not going to say just totally blindsided because there was just so much noise out there about what was going on with our football team that I thought was not true. But any time there's all these undercurrents going, there's something in there. I was surprised when both Jimmy and John walked in my office and let me know that they'd be relieving me as being the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
"That's a hard pill to swallow when you've given it your all, and you've worked extremely hard and you do everything you can to try to put the place in the best position to move forward. But again, it's their decision. I have to respect it and move on.''
On the Internal Discord
"I didn't perceive it as internal discord. I think you can disagree with people and not have it be discord. Discord to me is a strong word. It means there's always infighting. That's a pretty hot word. I know there was disagreements and rightfully so. Who doesn't disagree? But I think the term internal discord was a little much.
"I believe the message the organization was trying to convey with that was that the success of the organization depends on the success of their future franchise QB in Baker Mayfield. So with the offense not playing well, and me stating that I would look to help out the offense - we were not trending in the direction you would like to see for the development of your #1 over pick. So I get that they had a tough decision to make and they felt they did what was in the best interest of the organization going forward. Now in regard to some of the other media stuff about internally things being a mess and losing the players - none of that is accurate at all.''
On if he was surprised Haley was also let go
"I can't speak for the situation with Todd. First I was shocked that I was let go and then obviously hearing later on that they let him go, again, they made decisions that they thought were best for them. Whether I was shocked or not didn't matter. I just think as I keep saying, I'm going to respect the decisions they made and move forward.
On if he appealed to Haslam to let him run the offense
"I had a very candid conversation with Jimmy Haslam as I've known Jimmy longer than I've know John, and I think Jimmy knows what I've expressed and how I felt and how I would have liked to have gone out. But again, they made this decision and what they thought was best for the organization and I have to respect that."
On why he wanted to take the offense back
"What I didn't and couldn't predict was that our offensive production would turnout the way it did - especially considering us leading the league in turnovers on defense (the offense has converted the 22 takeaways into only 34 points). We all knew that trending down with a rookie future franchise QB on board was not an option. I do believe that having the opportunity finish it out (myself) would've been best.
"We had a lot of football left, were 2-5-1 with a rookie QB, left tackle, already played Pittsburgh twice, beat Baltimore, and could have easily been 3-4-1 if the first down isn't taken back (in Oakland). The fact that we played four ovetime games says that we were a better football team. In my mind, if we fix the offense - it's a totally different story. So I do believe the move was premature. But I think a part of the problem again went back to the first two years.''
On why he hired an offensive coordinator
"People for some reason thought that I couldn't run an offense and that I needed to hire an OC. But I was never able to actually run my offense the first two years because we didn't have the players. What everybody saw the first two years was not a Hue Jackson offense. And the people, players, and coaches that know me - know that was the case. I had to do on offense what was necessary to be competitive each week. And we were.
"But it was recommended I bring in an OC to allow me to focus on leading the organization. In hindsight, it would've been in our best interest for me to continue doing what got me the job, and that was to run the offense with more talent on board. So with the offense struggling and trending down. you're not just going to sit there and let the thing continue to get worse, when you know this is what you were brought in to do in the first place. Even with that - my attempts were to help. I saw things early on in our process that if we didn't get fixed would lead to some problems.
On why he gave up play calling in the first place
"You look at our numbers with me calling the offense with less talent. Our numbers this year were the same or worse than our numbers last year with better players on offense. So it was already tough for me to give up play calling when I knew more talent was on the way with John Dorsey on board. Of course I wanted to remind everybody what a Hue Jackson-led offense looks like, but I felt they wanted me to focus on coaching the whole team and let someone else call the plays.''
On why Todd Haley and if John Dorsey recommended him
"John Dorsey suggested I talk to Todd, but for the record, I hired Todd to be the offensive coordinator. He had a history of success in our division. He was a veteran play caller, which I was looking for. And I liked the mentality and edge that came along with both Todd and Greg Williams. I really believed that if we were going to change the narrative in Cleveland - we need to be able to play with a confidence level that said we can play with anybody.
"Unfortunately, the production was not there - and we all know this is a production business.''
On his relationship with John Dorsey
"What people don't know is that I recommended John Dorsey as the guy for the job because of his skillset in talent acquisition. I knew despite what happened with building the team the first two years, I knew we were on the clock, because no one cared about excuses - the fans expected winning. So John was the guy. If there was a guy who could flip a roster and acquire talent at the rate we needed, it was John Dorsey.
"I also knew that if we didn't start winning, with John Dorsey on board, that changes were going to have to be made. This is why I chose a veteran OC in Todd Haley. It's why I chose Greg Williams as well
On trying to get more involved as the season went along
"I gave it time to correct itself, and after that didn't happen I brought things up that needed to be corrected. After those things continued to go uncorrected, as a head coach, it was time to do something different. The problem again was there's this perception that all of a sudden, I somehow forget how to run and offense, develop QB's, or coach a football team. But this was the perception and stigma placed on the coaches that come before me in Cleveland. They were good coaches before they came to Cleveland - and they have remained good coaches after leaving Cleveland.''
On if he regrets not taking it back earlier in the season
"If you're going to go out, you always go out betting on yourself. I knew that I would've taken our same system and turned the offense around. It was not what I wanted to do, it's what I had to do. If I couldn't turn it around - then so be it and we move on. So I was surprised that I was not given the opportunity to display what I could do as a play caller with a much more talented offensive roster. But again, while I don't agree, I respect their decision and wish them the best.''
On passing on Carson Wentz, Patrick Mahomes and DeShaun Watson
"We passed on three franchise QBs the first two years in Wentz, Watson and Mahomes. We played with a QB room with zero wins in the league. We played with street free agents and practice squad players in WRs. Yet our offense was the same or better than what we were doing this year. There is no way that should happen.
"You can't pass on quarterbacks. You never pass on a potential franchise quarterback because you don't know who's going to be there in the future. I think Baker Mayfield is going to be a sensational player if they surround him with the right people, but they've got to give him help and run a scheme suited to his skillset.''
On if he wanted Carson Wentz at No. 2 in 2016
"Oh my gosh, yes. Did I like Carson Wentz? Hell yes. He did something that no other quarterback did. I give them three minutes to memorize the book and put on the (white) board. He put it all on the board in two minutes and 48 seconds. I've never had a guy do that ever in my coaching career.
"But the plan was never to take a quarterback that year. It was all about trading back to get picks. If you're doing that you've got to pick the right players.''
On Patrick Mahomes and DeShaun Watson in 2017
"I like Patrick and DeShaun a lot. I got to know them both. Pat and I had really good relationship. I loved his skillset. I loved his ability to throw the ball around and all of that. I built a good rapport with him. I had them ranked very close to each other.''
The Browns took Myles Garrett at No. 1 despite the fact some in the front office wanted Mitchell Trubisky at No. 1. The Chiefs then jumped up over the Browns and drafted Mahomes at No. 10, and the Browns traded the No. 12 pick to the Texans, who took Watson. All three quarterbacks are playing well this season, with Mahomes arguably the hottest QB in the NFL with 26 TD passes. Garrett is tied for second in the NFL with 8 sacks.
On the rebuild
"There is no such thing as a clean start, or total rebuild, or a reset. The faster you move on from people, the longer it could take from the next person to turn it into their vision. I believe the constant changes only compound the difficulties for the next person to have the time and patience to be successful. I strongly believe that I did a lot of work in a short time of laying the foundation for turning the place around. It's unfortunate that they took the approach they did the first two years because those were two years that I couldn't get back from a record and value stand point.
"Had we been doing in year one what I was able to get us to do in year three, there's no question we would already be a winning football team. You can't go 1-15 or 0-16 and have people like you unless you come out and explain to everyone that you're going to lose. And you can't say that publicly.''.
On when he realized the plan was different than expected
"One of the main reasons I took the job was because I believed the team had one of the best offensive lines in football already as a nucleus. As soon as I got there, we started moving the offensive line out. So that was my first red flag, but I knew I had to give it time to see what this new process was about. They assured me it was about winning now.
"I had a simple rule: if you're going to take players off the team, you need to be replacing them with the comparable or better players. We weren't doing that at all. We what really alarmed me was the first draft and what we did and how we went about evaluating and selecting our players.
"The problem was that the analytics and football were not on the same page on who the premium players were and what their value to a football team would be. This was more a people problem of collaboration than just an analytics problem. We were getting worse as a team - and the NFL is set up for bad teams to get better not worse.''
On if he regrets taking the job
"This is one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. There had been many good coaches there before me that were also pursuing the same elusive goal - bringing winning and championships back to Cleveland. So you combine the legacy of the Browns with the opportunity to be the guy that turns it around. The competitor in us, who thrives off and runs toward challenges. You're always looking for the next Mount Everest.
"And to me, Cleveland is currently the Mount Everest of the NFL. It's extremely difficult. Not for everybody. But if you can conquer it, your legacy becomes cemented. Like I said, many good coaches have taken a crack at it before me. I hope more good coaches line up to take a crack at it after me. It is one of the most challenging things I've ever done, a history of losing has a tremendous impact on an organization. But I took my shot at it. If there's any regret I have, it's not really being able to build on offense the way I envisioned from day one.''
On what's next
"I learned a lot from this experience. But just as important, I never lost what I knew from my previous experiences and successes. So I grew significantly as a coach over the last three years through this process. I went in assuming that it would be a simple transition of just getting to coaching and it being all about playing ball. I learned early on that this wasn't an accurate assumption.
"When there's such a deep history of losing, it compounds and impacts everything. So this experience has allow me to grow and be even more prepared for the next experience. I'm the same coach from three years ago. As you've seen with other coaches who have went on to have success after their time in Cleveland, I expect nothing less of myself as well. So we'll see. But I'm looking forward to it.''
On what he would tell the next Browns coach?
"I hope a ton of great competitive coaches pursue the opportunity to turn the Browns around, Greg Williams included. Someone needs to conquer this thing and give the fans in Cleveland what they all truly deserve and that's winning. As crazy as it may sound, if I had the chance to do it again in Cleveland, I'd be running right back at it, to try to get it done.
"To me, the Cleveland Browns is still a great opportunity for a coach to establish a legacy in the NFL and bring winning back to that storied franchise. I believe we laid the right foundation this time around, with the young talent we brought in. There is now a foundation in Cleveland, and I believe that John and the Haslams will be mindful of the history and use that to keep building in the right direction.''
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