This is the Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com article referenced above.Browns’ Jimmy Haslam: I don’t think we managed expectations well in 2019; excited but ‘realistic’ this year
Updated Aug 16, 2020; Posted Aug 16, 2020
link Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com
BEREA, Ohio — Jimmy and Dee Haslam were the toast of the NFL Owners’ meetings in 2019, with team executives and coaches congratulating at them every turn at the posh Arizona Biltmore hotel.
They received plenty of pats on the back and handshakes for trading for receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and for their promising end to the 2018 season, when they won five of their last seven games and Baker Mayfield played like the No. 1 overall pick.
Like everyone else, they got caught up in the hype of the Season of Great Expectations, and their chins hit the turf when their talent-laden team got blown out by the Titans 43-13 in Week 1. By season’s end, the Browns were 6-10, and the Haslams blew it all up again.
“I think we probably all of us, including ownership, learned a lesson last year about tempering expectations,’' Jimmy Haslam said during a Zoom conference call on Sunday. “I don’t think we managed that as well as we should have. I think you have to be realistic. This team has not been to the playoffs since 2002, and we’re in a tough division. Baltimore and Pittsburgh are arguably two of the best teams and best franchises. I think you have to be realistic there.
“We’re still a young team. On the other hand, we feel really good about Andrew [Berry] and Kevin [Stefanski], our coaching staff, our personnel group and the talent that we’ve been able to assemble. We’re excited going into the year but realistic.”
Berry, the Browns first-time GM, and Stefanski, their first-time head coach, are two of the major reasons the Haslams are cautiously optimistic this season, specifically the way the two have navigated COVID-19 and racial strife.
“First of all, they’re both like really calm, really calm,’' Haslam said. “Their EKGs are just like that (flatlining motion). Second of all, they are really organized, really organized. They’re at processing. They’re both smart. What I appreciate the most is neither of them use COVID as an excuse. Kevin can easily do that, right? First-year head coach, new staff, new offense, new defense, etc., and he hasn’t used it as an excuse.‘'
They’re also excited about quarterback Baker Mayfield stepping into more of a leadership role in his third season. He’s also toned it down off the field and toned it up in the weight room.
“I think you see physically, he came back in great shape,’' Jimmy Haslam said. “We haven’t known him long enough to say it’s the best shape of his life, but he came back in great shape. He’s taken a really good leadership role. We appreciated what he said [on Friday] about owning up to last year he wasn’t himself. He’s going to put that behind him. We’re really excited. He had a really good practice today. We’re really excited to see what he can do both in terms of being the quarterback but also being one of the leaders of the team.”
They’re also thrilled with another one of their big investments in Beckham, who’s settled in here this season.
“I had a great conversation with him today,’' Dee Haslam said. “Excited to be back in his house, and that has made a big difference to him. We did an exercise with the team Friday night – the four H’s, which is your history, heartbreak, heroes and hopes. Odell texted me and told me that he really related to a lot of the stuff. We had a great conversation about that.
“I just feels like he is just so much more comfortable here, and he said that. He says ‘I am in my home. I am more comfortable.’ I think it was a transition, but I think he is doing really well and love the fact that he is talking about how happy he is to be here and how comfortable he is. I think it is a great improvement so we are really excited that he feels that way.”
They also feel good about signing Myles Garrett to his five-year, $125 million contract extension despite coming off the six-game suspension for clubbing Mason Rudolph over the head with the QB’s helmet. Garrett is starting out camp with a tweaked hamstring, but it’s mostly precautionary.
“We spent a lot of time talking about Myles and his situation – a lot of time – because that’s a huge contract.’' Haslam said. “I think most of you all know Myles, and Myles did something that was unbelievably out of character unfortunately. He paid for it dearly, and we paid for it dearly. We know him and his family well. We know the kind of person and the kind of man he is, and at the same time, we know the kind of player he is.
“We spent a lot of time thinking about it, but we’re excited that he is going to be a Cleveland Brown for a long, long time. He’ll be back on the field in a few days, and it will be good to have No. 95 out there because he makes a hell of a difference when he is out there.”
The buzzword this offseason was ‘alignment’ and the Haslams believe they’ve finally achieved it, with everyone in the building rowing in the same direction, from Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta on down.
“It’s a lot more fun,’' Haslam said. “You have Paul DePodesta goes in that group, too – three really smart, really capable individuals, low ego and who just want to win and want to do it in the right way. It was amazing for us to watch the whole draft process – like I said, time will tell in three, four or five years how well we did – and how well everybody worked together. We’re excited about it. We have not played any games yet, but we are excited about the group we put together. Hopefully, they will be here for a long time.”
Haslam is painfully aware he’s uttered similar phrases since 2012 only to eat his words time and time again, but in the past, the organizational discord was often evident in training camp. This year, it’s the opposite.
“It’s been a long, hard road, but we really think we have that in coaching, personnel, Paul with his strategic role and in players, whether it be Baker or whomever it might have. We think we have the right people in the right place. It’s never perfect in the NFL and things happen, but we are really excited to see what this team can do this year.”
Now, if the fans will follow suit.
“We’ve learned we have the world’s greatest fans,’' he said. “I don’t know that they’ll temper their expectations.‘'
