The NFL announced Monday that they could not substantiate Hue Jackson’s allegations of the Cleveland Browns intentionally trying to lose games.
A 60-day independent investigation conducted by former SEC chair Mary White and the Debevoise law firm “found no evidence” to suggest the Browns many any choices “deliberately to weaken the team to secure a more favorable draft position.”
According to the NFL’s official statement, Jackson did not speak with investigators despite initially agreeing to do so. An NFL press release reported “full cooperation” from Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and other past and present members of the organization.
The NFL announced that it couldn’t substantiate allegations made by former #Browns head coach Hue Jackson regarding deliberately losing games: pic.twitter.com/Jyvau6H6u1
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 2, 2022
After former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores accused team owner Stephen Ross of offering him $100,000 for every loss in his lawsuit against the team and NFL, Jackson came forward with his own tanking allegations.
While Twitter posts in early February suggested he was offered “a good number” to lose, Jackson later told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he was never paid to deliberately lose games. However, he said the Browns instituted a four-year plan unconcerned with short-term success when he joined the team in 2016.
“I told Jimmy that what he was doing was very destructive, to not do this because it’s going to hurt my career and every other coach that worked with me and every player on the team,” Jackson told Cooper. “And I told him that it would hurt every Black coach that would follow me. And I have the documents to prove this.”
The Browns went 3-36-1 during Jackson’s tenure as head coach, including an 0-16 campaign in 2017. They replaced him with Gregg Williams during the 2018 season.
Jackson, who is embarking on his first season as Grambling State’s head coach, told Sports Illustrated in April that he asked the NFL to investigate the Browns two years ago.
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