Deciphering Hue Jackson’s Destiny as Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns

Christmas Eve of 2016. Josh Lambo of the then San Diego Chargers lined up for a 45-yard field goal. The ball is snapped and in came Cleveland native Jamie Meder busting through the field goal protective offensive line. Meder blocked the potential game-winning field goal and blocked Hue Jackson’s pass out of Cleveland. The Cleveland Browns avoided a 0-16 Jackson’s first season leading the Orange and Brown but the same would not stand true for the following season.

A combination of bad coaching, bad quarterbacks, bad football, and again… bad coaching resulted in the second 0-16 season in NFL history. Following the historical mess, Jackson’s two-year and counting tenure in Cleveland mounted to 1-31. Immediately after yet another humiliating loss against a junior varsity Pittsburgh Steelers team, reporters summoned team owner Jimmy Haslam.

Haslam doubled-down from his statement a month earlier when John Dorsey was hired as general manager and once again said, “Hue Jackson will remain the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.” In fact, Haslam did not even make it seem like a question — Jackson would be back for another season and beyond

Earlier in 2016, the Browns received what seemed like unanimous praise from around the NFL for hiring the hottest potential head coach on the market. In typical Cleveland Browns fashion, Jackson absolutely won his opening press conference…tying the number of football games he has won since being named head coach.

Where did it all go wrong? Can it get better? And will it get better?

In Jackson’s defense, first-year executive vice president Sashi Brown did not exactly hand the former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator the NFL’s most talented roster. The Browns became pioneers of an analytical approach to football (specifically roster building) which was either a success or a failure, depending who is asked.

With a team full of rookies and inexperienced players, Jackson was pretty much set-up for failure from the get-go and that should come as no surprise. Hell, Cody Kessler was the starting quarterback for eight games but Jackson did say after drafting him, “Trust me on this one.” Okay — Hue was trusted. In all fairness, Kessler did not play THAT bad his rookie year for the position he was put in. Kessler was even granted the opportunity to win the starting quarterback position the following season but fell flat on his face after displaying significantly weak arm strength.

Deshone Kizer. A raw as can be and talented as can be quarterback fell to the second round and the Browns fell in-love with drafting him. Or did they? The Browns were rumored to “love” every other quarterback in the 2017 NFL Draft besides Kizer and ended up with the former Fighting Irish passer.

Quickly…actually too quick…Kizer won the fans, media, and eventually the coaching staff over nearly exactly one year ago today and was named the starting quarterback of the Browns. Quickly, Kizer was in-over-his-head with bad offensive line play, an inconsistent run game, and a talentless receiving corps. Actually, Kizer had two really good performances last season but none were good enough to win football games, as the team failed over-and-over to close out games they actually could have and should have won. Did I mention that Jackson said, “If I am worth my salt as a head coach, I will get the best out of Kizer.” Now Kizer is in Green Bay (thankfully) and Jackson is back in Cleveland for a third season.

The minute Dorsey was hired, the assumption was Jackson was on his way out as head coach. Doesn’t every general manager want THEIR own head coach to lead the football team they construct? Reports surfaced that Dorsey wanted his own head coach but Jackson was there to stay and is here to stay. After all, Jackson does seem to have Haslam’s ear and might have even had a say in who the Browns should replace Sashi Brown as general manager with for year three of Jackson’s Cleveland tenure.

Year three is here. Sashi collected a plethora of assets for the Browns and Dorsey used them. It certainly appears Dorsey used those assets quite effectively. The “sleeping giant” Cleveland football team has a good starting quarterback…but not just one, TWO! Jackson was able to chase the Crow out and Crowell flew to be a Jet. Dorsey gave him Carlos Hyde, Nick Chubb, and even extended Duke Johnson. That fourth-round pick that Sashi Brown acquired for former Browns punter Andy Lee…yeah that was used to acquire some guy named Jarvis Landry. If that was not enough, Dorsey drafted troubled first-round talent Florida Gator Antonio Callaway a first in the fourth round and even brought in Dez Bryant for a visit.

Jackson will not be the commander of the offense as Hue himself (supposedly) hired former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley to take over the play-calling duties. This was not easy for Hue but certainly is for the better.

There is no defending 1-31. These are professional athletes, that play football for a living. Winning one game in two years should not be impossible but Jackson made it seem impossible. Horrific play-calling, constantly throwing players under the bus, terrible time management, and lack of success all earned Jackson a third-year back in a job only 31 people can have.

Excuses? Child, please or in Landry’s words: Bless’m. This football team is better, much better. It is set-up perfectly for Jackson to be much better too. The head coach of the Browns no longer has to manage calling a game, instead, his responsibilities are to lead and manage the team to victory at the same time. Something that should have been done the moment Hue was hired. It was silly not to have an offensive coordinator.

HBO’s “Hard Knocks” has put the spotlight on Hue and the viewers get to see what Jackson actually is like behind the scenes. To some it may come as a surprise, he is not an idiot. Yes, Tyrod Taylor may have briefly taught him how to coach in one scene but the best in their profession are always taking advice from their employees.

Jackson is not getting a pass for his first two seasons. This is professional football, winning more than one game in two years is unacceptable. However, it is time to step back and see how Jackson performs in a different setting with different players. He may not be the best coach in football but let’s just see what happens.

For those calling for Jackson’s job already with a vision that the Browns will fail and fail early this season, don’t. The Browns are not playing the easiest schedule in the NFL and this team could be sneaky good. Their starting quarterback took a Buffalo Bills team that was designed to tank to the playoffs, for the first time in nearly two decades. Unless it gets real ugly, Jackson is unlikely to be canned mid-season. A better football team needs better leadership. Jackson may not be coaching for his job yet and as long as this does not turn south quick, he will not be on the hot seat for the near future.