When all the stories finally come out about the dumpster fire owner Jimmy Haslam has created with the Cleveland Browns, I kind of think Sashi Brown will be seen as a hero this season thanks to one simple trait; his gross incompetence.
It was that same level of incompetence that was used as an excuse Thursday morning for Haslam to fire Brown as executive vice president of football operations/general manager of the Cleveland Browns. Sashi will not be missed, but if the Browns have any success next season, he’ll be the reason it happened.
“We have great appreciation and gratitude for Sashi’s commitment and leadership to our organization,” Haslam said in a statement. “But believe transitioning to someone with strong experience and success in drafting and building consistently winning football teams is critical to the future of the Cleveland Browns.”
https://twitter.com/Browns/status/938798015967571969
As critical to the Browns as their second and third round picks next season? Because if not for Sashi, those two picks would now belong to the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland would have just one more worthless quarterback, A.J. McCarron, on the roster fumblin’ and bumblin’ away the games.
Here’s the conspiracy theory.
Head coach Hue Jacskon, who we’ll get to in a minute, wanted to work a panicked trade in the final minutes of the NFL trade deadline with the Bengals for McCarron, a quarterback he fell in love with for some reason as Cincy’s offensive coordinator. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to hang around with Katherine Webb? That makes a hell of a lot more sense to me than McCarron’s football acumen.
At this point, it seems #Browns coach Hue Jackson has won the internal battle with GM Sashi Brown. No other firings today.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 7, 2017
At any rate, while the San Francisco 49ers were landing Jimmy Garoppolo with a second round pick, Jackson decided that McCarron was worth more than that; a second and a third, and considering this is the Browns we’re talking about, those were probably pretty high second and third picks. Needless to say, the Bengals wasted no time in turning in their paperwork on the trade then spent the next hour high fiving, smoking cigars and scheduling happy ending massages.
There was just one problem; the Browns turned in their trade paperwork to the NFL after the trade deadline had passed. Of all the Cleveland Browny things to do, that was absolutely the Cleveland Brown-iest way to do it.
The theory is that Sashi didn’t want to give up two picks in the top 100 for the back up quarterback from a divisional rival because he hadn’t suffered a head injury or recently been hanging out in a hotel room with Bill Cosby. He was a man of sound enough mind to see how stupid that trade would be. So he sabotaged it.
It is possible to think Sashi Brown did a good job setting the Browns up for 2018 and to also not have any faith in his ability to run that draft. In fact, that is likely the conclusion Jimmy Haslam came to.
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) December 7, 2017
Now, Sashi denied that accusation later, but it makes a lot of sense. Mainly because the trade absolutely made no sense for the Browns. Needless to say, Jackson wasn’t pleased and the Browns, as they often do, looked like complete fools.
Sashi’s employment was all but ended at that point. The only issue would be if he would make it to the end of the season. Thursday, we found out that he would not. Sashi is the second GM to face the guillotine this season. The New York Giants fired Jerry Reese Monday.
The shocker is that Jackson won’t be joining him in the bread line. On the same day Haslam announced Sashi’s firing, he also let Browns Nation know, categorically, the team would still be a nightmare of full, sentient, fanged baby diapers next season by announcing that Jackson would return as the team’s head coach. The guy that tried to sabotage the future of the team with a disastrous trade was spared. They guy that saved the picks, either on purpose or by flubbery, was axed.
Hue Jackson, on Sashi Brown's firing.
"I'm not naive enough to know that could have been me, as well."
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) December 7, 2017
The new general manager, will be the ninth since the Browns returned to the NFL back in 1999. Each and every one has been a disaster and considering Haslam is still the owner and was the primary architect of the shitshow at the University of Tennessee over the last month, there’s no reason at all to believe he’ll get the right man for the job. A month ago it legitimately sounded like Peyton Manning would take over the team. Now? After the UT bullshit? Please.
The Browns will come into 2018 with a ton of cap space, two first round picks and three second round picks. The right regime could fix this team in a hurry. Firing Sashi Brown wasn’t a bad thing, but keeping Jackson is incredibly stupid. But, knowing Haslam, if he’d fired him the Browns would have immediately hired Greg Schiano or just petitioned Pennsylvania to get Jerry Sandusky out of prison to take over the job.
Jackson is 9-35 as a head coach in the NFL, a winning percentage of .205, the worst among all active coaches. The standard baseline to start counting that percentage is 50 coached games, so if you check the sports data sites, Jackson doesn’t show up as the absolute worse. That’s still Mike Mularkey of the Tennessee Titans (.412). But next year Jackson will have hit enough games to qualify and take his rightful place as officially the losingest active head coach in the NFL.
Sashi Brown? kicked to the Curb. 18th year of a 25yr rebuilding program.#GPODAWUND pic.twitter.com/SHqmdWvMKJ
— View from my Office (@viewfrommyoffic) December 7, 2017
So congratulations on that, Browns. He’ll get to make history twice after going 0-16 this year.
Other NFL News
Cinciannti Bengals rookie wide receiver John Ross was moved to injured reserve Wednesday night after revealing he’d been hiding a shoulder injury. Ross has only appeared in three games this season and recorded just one carry for 12 yards and no catches.
The Kansas City Chiefs have suspended Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters for Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders. Peters was penalized last week in a loss to the New York Jets when he picked up a penalty flag and tossed it into the stands. He then left the field, thinking he’d been kicked out of the game, only to return later when he figured out he hadn’t been tossed. The Chiefs kept him on the bench anyway.
The Buffalo Bills have placed defensive end Shaq Lawson and wide receiver Jordan Matthews on injured reserve.
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