The Cleveland Browns have a well-earned reputation for failure.
If you prefer your analysis in video form, and have about ten minutes, feel free to watch this from Jon Bois, which illustrates just how deeply the organization is committed to losing:
Over the last three seasons, the Browns have gone 3-13, 1-15, and 0-16, being the rare team to definitively trend negatively after a season featuring just three victories. Now, projected to take a quarterback with the first pick in the upcoming draft, the Browns have a new offensive coordinator to shepherd their theoretical franchise player’s development: the Tequila Cowboy himself.
.@Browns hiring former Steelers OC Todd Haley: https://t.co/eZptkxDVqx (via @MikeSilver) pic.twitter.com/SQe1LmoEiG
— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2018
From NFL.com’s Marc Sessler:
NFL Network’s Michael Silver reported Monday that Todd Haley is taking the job, according to sources familiar with negotiations.
Haley spent the past six years as Pittsburgh’s play-caller, but the Steelers decided not to renew his contract following last week’s 45-42 playoff loss to the Jaguars. Not helping matters, the 50-year-old Haley reportedly struggled to get along with star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
A former head coach for the Chiefs, Haley will take over an offense that habitually flat-lined over the past two seasons under coach Hue Jackson. It’s unclear if Jackson will retain play-calling duties, but it’s impossible to imagine the hyper-experienced Haley joining the staff without full power to call his own plays.
Yeah, because when a coach isn’t good enough to avoid being fired by a divisional rival, you should definitely bring him on board! That’s certainly the least-charitable way to describe the move; you could probably spin the Steelers connection as a positive without trying too hard (he knows their secrets!). But Haley hasn’t exactly maintained a clean profile, and his stop before Pittsburgh (a brief stint as Chiefs head coach, where he amassed a 19-26 record) doesn’t point to Haley as the kind of coordinator who can be trusted to stick around for the long haul.
With a young quarterback, that’s what you should be hoping for; Haley came up as a wide receiver coach, even, not a quarterback coach. Whoever the Browns draft is likely looking at a year or two with Hue Jackson and his staff; presumably, barring a miraculous turnaround, the house will be cleaned and a new coach brought in. So why trust a firebrand, unpredictable character like Haley with what’s soon to be your most valuable asset? Shouldn’t you want someone who won’t do any harm?
They’re not the Browns for nothing.
[NFL]
