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- Hue Jackson claimed that while he was head coach of the Browns he was asked to lose games.
- The NFL conducted an investigation into Jackson’s claims of the Browns tanking.
- Read more news about the NFL here.
Back in February, amidst the news that former Dolphins coach Brian Flores had filed a lawsuit against the NFL, Hue Jackson strongly insinuated that the Cleveland Browns offered him money to lose games on purpose.
Hue Jackson, who went 3-36-1 during his time as coach of the Browns, raised eyebrows around the league when he replied to a tweet about Flores allegedly being offered $100,000 to lose games in Miami.
Trust me it was a good number!
— Hue Jackson (@huejack10) February 2, 2022
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam strongly denied that any payment was offered to Jackson to lose games in Cleveland.
“Hue Jackson has never ever accepted any responsibility for our record during that time period,” Haslam said, adding, “Unequivocally, Hue Jackson was never paid to lose games. That is an absolute falsehood.”
Jackson later tried to walk back his insinuation with some vague rhetoric about the Browns “incentivizing a four-year plan.”
The NFL released the results of its investigation into Hue Jackson and his allegations
None of which stopped the NFL from conducting an investigation into the allegations made by Hue Jackson, which, as most fans expected, found nothing worthy of punishment.
On Monday, the NFL released a statement outlining what the investigation discovered.
”Following a 60-day independent review into comments made by former Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson that the Browns paid or otherwise provided incentives to lose games during the 2016-17 seasons, former U.S. Attorney and SEC Chair Mary Jo White and a team of lawyers from the Debevoise firm determined that none of the allegations could be substantiated,” the statement read.
“The investigation found no evidence to suggest that the Browns’ Four-Year Plan or the club’s ownership or football personnel sought to lose or incentivized losses and made no decisions deliberately to weaken the team to secure a more favorable draft position.
“The comprehensive review included the full cooperation of the Browns and interviews with Jimmy Haslam and current and former members of the organization. While Coach Jackson initially agreed to meet with the investigators, he ultimately did not do so.
“Although unable to speak directly to Coach Jackson, the Debevoise team had access to his public statements and to his filings and testimony in a prior arbitration proceeding. The club also produced thousands of pages of documents, including emails, texts, internal memos and presentation decks as well as other material relating to club operations and the filings and testimony in the arbitration proceeding between the club and Coach Jackson.”
NFL fans found it interesting that this “comprehensive review” did not involve speaking “directly to Coach Jackson” and found the whole thing rather dubious.
Wait a minute. They didn’t even interview Jackson? Is that what this says??
— James English (@Hollywood1114) May 2, 2022
I think when you have a trustworthy organization like the NFL coming to a conclusion you have to respect it.
— RobFaus916 (@RobFaus916) May 3, 2022
That was quick… Any word on the Commanders investigation?
— Terrill Allen (@TheRealTA26) May 3, 2022
NFL Independent Investigator: pic.twitter.com/ViQmyAR4G6
— Dazzling Urbanite v2.0 (@PDotEsco) May 2, 2022