Former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson shocked the NFL world back in February when he claimed that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and the Browns’ organization were “happy losing games” while he was running the team.
Jackson also hinted on social media that Haslam offered him money to lose games. He quickly backtracked on these comments just a few days later in an interview with CNN.
This led to an independent investigation into the matter conducted by SEC Chair Mary Jo White and a team of lawyers from the Debovoise firm, which ultimately concluded on Monday. Their findings showed that the allegations could not be substantiated and that there was “no evidence to suggest that the Browns’ four-year plan sought to lose or incentivized losses.”
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However, now there are reports saying that five days following Jackson’s initial claims, the Browns organization sent a cease and desist letter to Jackson. According to Pro Football Talk, the letter warned Jackson that any further claims he had about the Browns organization would be seen as defamation and that he would be held liable.
It also stated that Jackson would be continuing to breach a release agreement that he signed back in 2018 with the Browns once he was fired.
This cease and desist order from the Browns looms large as to how the investigation went down. This means that White was not able to speak to Jackson regarding the claims, which ultimately protected the Browns organization from any further evidence that could have been used against them.
While Jackson may have retracted the comments because he knew they were false, it could have also been a situation where he knew that he couldn’t provide enough hard evidence to back up his claim.
It’s clear that the Browns did not put him in a position to win while he was the team’s head coach, but we will likely never know for sure whether or not that was intentional, in order to attain top draft picks, or just incompetence from a losing organization.
