Hue Jackson is somewhat backtracking on his claim that the Browns offered him money to lose games.
Earlier Wednesday, in response to a tweet about Brian Flores’ claims that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per loss, Jackson tweeted that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam “was happy while we kept losing.
The Browns denied Jackson’s claims.
“The recent comments by Hue Jackson and his representatives relating to his tenure as our head coach are completely fabricated,” the Browns said in a statement. “Any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false.”
Jackson appeared on SportsCenter later Wednesday night to clarify his remarks.
“Well, I need to really explain that because I think people have taken that and run and said, ‘Hey, I think you were in on something that happened,’” Jackson said. “That’s not the case.”
“What I was trying to make sure people understood is that we were paid for — you’re gonna see it as losing — but the way the team was built, there was no chance to win, and win at a high level. You’re in a situation where what you have to do is do the best you can. My record that year was 1-15.”
Jackson referenced a four-year plan that said nothing about winning until Years 3 and 4 — and says he can back it up with evidence.
“There was a four-year plan that was crafted,” he said. “I have documentation of that I think any coach would cringe at if he saw it, because it talked about things that had nothing to do with winning — aggregate rankings, being the youngest team, having so many draft picks. None of those things are what lead to winning. Teams that win don’t have a lot of draft picks. Teams that win, they’re not just the youngest team, not to say that they can’t win.
