1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: So this all started back in February, and obviously everyone 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: remembers when Brian Flores came out and made public his 3 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: lawsuit against the league, and in the aftermath, Hugh Jackson 4 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: had tweeted some cryptic things. Hugh had implied that something 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 1: similar happened with the Browns. But when he made that claim, 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: that's when the NFL first opened their investigation. On the 7 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: special bonus episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly, former Brown's head 8 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,839 Speaker 1: coach Hugh Jackson claimed the organization misled him during the 9 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: hiring process and set out to intentionally lose games. On Monday, 10 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: the NFL said its internal investigation of those allegations found 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: quote no evidence to substantiate the accusations. But while the 12 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: NFL publicly stated that an NFL team did nothing wrong, 13 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: according to the investigation, that doesn't necessarily mean the Browns 14 00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: didn't do what Jackson said they did. As I staffers 15 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: Gary Grambling and Connor or from the Monday Morning Quarterback 16 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,400 Speaker 1: reviewed more than one thousand pages of documents pertaining to 17 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: the allegations made by Jackson, they joined me to discuss 18 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:15,479 Speaker 1: the information they uncovered, how the Browns allegedly tanked and 19 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: what it all means it's Tuesday, May three. I'm your 20 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: host John Gonzalez from Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. 21 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: This is Sports Illustrated Weekly. Hi, and we'll Selivan side 22 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: the NFL Network news room with breaking news out of Cleveland. 23 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,040 Speaker 1: The Browns have fired head coach Hugh Jackson. This according 24 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: to NFL Network inside or Ian Rappaport, Hugh was putting 25 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: a pretty difficult position his first two years with the 26 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: talent we had, and we felt like he deserved a 27 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: chance of the third year, and unfortunately it didn't work 28 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: out the way we all hoped it would. Former Brown's 29 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: coach Hugh Jackson has added his voice to this conversation. 30 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: What did he have to say? Basically, they said that 31 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: something similar happened with the Browns, that that Hugh was 32 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: paid to lose games in ten those seasons resulted in 33 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,639 Speaker 1: back to back number one overall picked. Jimmy Haslum, brown 34 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: Z owner, responding to Hugh Jackson's allegations he was paid 35 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: to lose games, has until the Knoxville News Sentinel, Hugh 36 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,959 Speaker 1: Jackson has never ever accepted any responsibility for our record 37 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: during that time period. He's been masterful at pointing fingers, 38 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: but has never accepted any blame. Garry Grambling and Connor 39 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,399 Speaker 1: or Welcome to Sports Illustrator Weekly. Good to be here. 40 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: You guys. Uh A lot is going on with the Browns. 41 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: You guys are in the mix of this. You reviewed 42 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: more than a thousand pages of documents related to Hugh 43 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: Jackson accusing the Browns of tanking. There's just so much 44 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: going on here. I want to go back to the beginning. 45 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: When do we first hear that the Browns were suspected 46 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: of intentionally losing games? So this all started back in February, 47 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: And obviously everyone remembers when Brian Flores came out and 48 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: made public his lawsuit against the league, and in the aftermath, 49 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: Huge Xon had tweeted some cryptic things, maybe one would 50 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: say piggybacking off of Brian Flores his claim that Stephen 51 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 1: Ross allegedly had offered him one hundred thousand dollars per 52 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 1: loss with the Dolphins, and Hugh had implied that something 53 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: similar happened with the Browns. He clarified a little bit 54 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,239 Speaker 1: as that week went on, but when he made that claim, 55 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,119 Speaker 1: that's when the NFL first opened their investigation. It's also 56 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: when we first opened our investigation into this and and 57 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: started to gather some information and figure out exactly what 58 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: was going on and what exactly Hugh was talking about, 59 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: and then we can get into it later. Because of 60 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: a release agreement he signed, he is not really free 61 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: to talk about this publicly. Connor, how much can you 62 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: tell us about these documents that you guys gathered in 63 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: that process when you go through the process of fighting 64 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: against the NFL via this secretive arbitration process. These are 65 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: the documents that you tried to present, right and tried 66 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: to back up your case the st that you would 67 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,119 Speaker 1: want people to know in terms of what is your 68 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: reasoning for believing that you were missled misrepresented by the 69 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: terms of your deal, and what kind of evidence do 70 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: you have that, hey, this wasn't all on the up 71 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: and up. Yeah, so you've reviewed all these documents, You've 72 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: spoken to a bunch of people, including Hugh Jackson's lawyer 73 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: Joe Stafford. What evidence is there, what exactly is being alleged? Yeah, 74 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: and we should make clear the Browns are denying that 75 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,679 Speaker 1: they intentionally lost or incentivized their coach to intentionally lose, 76 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: and there's nothing along the lines of he got paid 77 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: X amount of dollars for losing games. I had one 78 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: player who is on those teams as we discussed this 79 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: sort of be like, boy, you really have to read 80 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: between the lines here, and that's kind of what it is. 81 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:48,359 Speaker 1: And that's why it's also going to be interesting to 82 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,119 Speaker 1: see how the NFL handles this, because there's nothing that says, 83 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: go one in fifteen and we'll pay you X amount 84 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: of dollars. What it does say is if we have 85 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: a certain amount of draft capital, you, the head coach, 86 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: gets a bonus for that. That's that's out of your 87 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: control as a head coach, unless you lose a lot 88 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 1: of games. The number is for the twenties sixteen draft 89 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: ten draft picks in they want eleven draft picks. You 90 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: get draft picks by having high picks. You have high 91 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: picks by losing a lot of games, and then you 92 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: flip those high picks into into more picks. There's also 93 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: there's a bonus for Hugh Jackson that salary cap carry over, 94 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: and the way the salary cap works, if you don't 95 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,480 Speaker 1: spend a certain amount of money, or I should say, 96 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: if you are a certain amount under the cap for 97 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: one season, you can carry that over to the next season. 98 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: Hugh Jackson gets a bonus for that. Now, that's sort 99 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: of a personnel bonus that you would typically give not 100 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: to the head coach, because that is basically going to me, 101 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 1: and your team will not be maximizing the kind of 102 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: roster it can build at that point. I should clarify, 103 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 1: probably the most unusual thing out of all of this, 104 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: outside of the fact that perhaps Hugh Jackson was being 105 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: indirectly incentivized to lose games, is this actually doesn't appear 106 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: in his contract. Every coaching player contract has to go 107 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: to the NFL for them to approve. There was a 108 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: reference to this incentive package in the contract, but the 109 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 1: actual details of the incentive package only appear in this 110 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: booklet called the four Year Plan, which is an internal 111 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,840 Speaker 1: document that the Browns put out. It's very unusual that 112 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: this never sort of made its way to the NFL 113 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 1: for some sort of approval. Yeah, as you mentioned, Gary, 114 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: it sounds like there's a lot of reading between the 115 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 1: lines that they have to do here, because clearly the 116 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,279 Speaker 1: Browns weren't so explicit about this that they outlined at 117 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: all that everybody would know immediately what was happening. There's 118 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: a lot of euphemistic and gray language being used. But Connor, 119 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: you guys wrote that the Browns have a trump card here, right, 120 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: because they're not only denying all of these allegations, but 121 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: they say that they've got proof that they didn't do this. Right. So, 122 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: this is an interesting feature of most coaching contracts, and 123 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,840 Speaker 1: that is basically, if you get fired before the end 124 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: of your contract and you would like to collect the 125 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: remainder of your money, you sign a release. So basically, 126 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: if you have any complaints, you have to go to 127 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: the NFL's court and you have to play by the 128 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: NFL's rules. And it's not like the NFL is a 129 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: place that's like, oh, yes, here, hand us all this 130 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: dammaging information about the league and our teams, and we 131 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: would like to put this through the standard legal system 132 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: where it can get out and have everybody be able 133 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: to read it. No, everything kind of gets shut down 134 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: and cut off. And that's kind of really at the 135 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 1: heart of this story is I think that there's a 136 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: lot of coaches who view this as an unnecessary and 137 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: kind of overarching measure. They're really big companies out there 138 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: who are ending these release agreements in contracts. So I 139 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: want to board down a little bit on how they 140 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: might have actually tanked. If hypothetically they did that. How 141 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: could they do it because we have Hugh Jackson here 142 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,679 Speaker 1: saying that the Browns misled him, they intentionally lost games. 143 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: But I'm wondering how they could pull that off without 144 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: Hugh Jackson being at least implicit or even explicitly signing 145 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: off on it. So the reason we kind of know 146 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: what Hugh jackson sentiment in all of this is is 147 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: one of the documents we have. It's a motion to 148 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: vacate the NFL's arbitration. Now, he didn't go forward with 149 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: this in Cuyahoga County in Ohio. I did ask his 150 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: lawyer about that. His lawyer said, essentially he didn't like 151 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 1: his chances of winning his case in Ohio based on 152 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: the fact that he did sign or LEAs agreement. But 153 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 1: the way this played out according to this filing, And 154 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: again I do want to reiterate this is Hugh Jackson's 155 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: lawyer prepared this. We all know lawyers are advocates for 156 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: their clients. I don't want to present this as the 157 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: absolute truth on this matter, But Hugh Jackson says that 158 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: when he went through the interview process with the Browns, 159 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: they essentially told him we got a buch of cap space, 160 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: we have some draft capital, we're gonna start building this 161 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: thing up. We're gonna we're gonna win some games. We're 162 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: gonna give you what you need. The incentive package in 163 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: the four year plan, which is about the heart of 164 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: Jackson's accutations here, it was not in his contract. He 165 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,679 Speaker 1: did not see it at all. They didn't even tell 166 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: him that this four year plan was being assembled until 167 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: February according to this motion, and on top of that, 168 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: it was not finalized until May twenty three. In the meantime, 169 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: the Yatt whole offseason go through. The Browns were not 170 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: active in the free agent market. As a lot of 171 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,440 Speaker 1: Browns fans know about the off season, they let Mitchell 172 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: Schwartz go. They decided they did not want to meet 173 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: his asking price. They'd rather have the compensed story pick. 174 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: But you can fast forward to seventeen and the fact 175 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: that they let Joe Hayden go, They let de Mario 176 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: Davis go. Jackson had advocated for Colin Kaepernick in the 177 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: off season of seen. They did not make that move, 178 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: and to be clear, that was before Colin Kaepernick had 179 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: begun his sort of public social justice campaign. So Jackson 180 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,679 Speaker 1: is kind of arguing, they told me one thing. I 181 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: got in there and they just completely pulled the rug 182 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: out from under me, and I had no players to 183 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: work with. And obviously that's that's prevalent in the win 184 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:07,559 Speaker 1: loss record. There were also people in that building who realize, 185 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:10,199 Speaker 1: we just we have a team that can't win. We 186 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: don't have an NFL caliber roster. Right now, Gary mentioned 187 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: the bonus system in the four year plan, just so 188 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:19,679 Speaker 1: everybody understands what that is. Connor lay that out for us. 189 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: I believe basically what this says here is that, for example, 190 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: on the table for the coach to earn his bonus, 191 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: for Hugh Jackson to earn his bonus, in in two 192 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: thousands sixteen, the Browns head to make at least eleven 193 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: picks in the NFL's draft, with five of those picks 194 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: being in the first three rounds. You do that, you 195 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,439 Speaker 1: get your bonus. If the organization carried over at least 196 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: fifteen percent of their salary cap, you get your bonus. 197 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: And so you could look at it from two ways, 198 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:54,559 Speaker 1: right that is, either in agreement to say Hey, okay, 199 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 1: everybody's benefiting from this, so no one can say they 200 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: didn't do it or at the time, mean, you have 201 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: to understand that the NFL is really shifting towards more 202 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 1: of a collaborative focus, like all the gms and coaches 203 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: were coming in together and hired together and signed through 204 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: contracts together. So you could look at it that way, 205 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:14,440 Speaker 1: or you could look at it as maybe this is 206 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: just a really weird and off ball way for a 207 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,559 Speaker 1: franchise to say, hey, we're all on the same team 208 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: here and so we all have the same goals sor Right, 209 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,079 Speaker 1: So there are all these allegations that the Browns were 210 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: incentivizing losing, and among the many documents you guys reviewed 211 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 1: were emails between Roger Goodell and Hugh Jackson. Right, yeah, 212 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: so Hugh has been banging the drum on this for 213 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: quite a while. According to his motion, he had first 214 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: brought this up with the league in twenty sixteen, this 215 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: approach of the Browns were taking, which he you know, 216 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: it did not feel was in line with the competitive 217 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: integrity of the NFL. He went through the arbitration process 218 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:56,079 Speaker 1: and afterwards he had a series of emails and letters 219 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: that he sent to Roger Goodell that, as we say, 220 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: they're kind of rife with all caps and bold fonts, 221 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: and he is very upset. And even after he had 222 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: lost his arbitration, which would have awarded him some sort 223 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: of monetary reward, he wanted an investigation into the Browns 224 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: for for allegedly tanking during these two seasons. And I 225 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:22,200 Speaker 1: think part of it for him became kind of a 226 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: quest to, let's say, restore his reputation as a football 227 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: coach after two and a half nightmare seasons in which 228 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: he leaves with a three thirty six and one record, 229 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: and he apparently feels that the organization is just as 230 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,840 Speaker 1: much as at fault for that as he is. So 231 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: you mentioned the organization being at fault there. Sashi Brown 232 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: was in charge of the Browns back then. He's now 233 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: the team president for the Ravens. Connor, what does he 234 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:50,199 Speaker 1: have to say of anything about all this? Yeah, we 235 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,559 Speaker 1: got a no comment out of Baltimore. And yeah, I mean, 236 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: I think Saucy is kind of an interesting figure there. 237 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: From my understanding of how this all, he was basically 238 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:06,079 Speaker 1: supposed to be the arbiter between football and analytics, right. 239 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: He was supposed to be the bridge that brought these 240 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: two together in this experiment that Jimmy Haslum was running, 241 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: and ultimately was really the first person to pay for this. 242 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:18,720 Speaker 1: He got fired and then I believe had a twenty 243 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 1: month hiatus out of sports until he came back with 244 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,959 Speaker 1: the Washington Wizards and is now obviously the team president 245 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: of the Ravens. But sort of a unique figure in 246 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: this because even back to if you remember, there was 247 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: I wouldn't say suspicion, but just everybody around the league's 248 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,200 Speaker 1: antenna was raised up and and some good curiosity in 249 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: a way too. I think people wanted to know what 250 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: he was doing and Paul Deepodesta, what they were doing 251 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:47,440 Speaker 1: with the Browns. They didn't have extensive background work in football, 252 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: and how this was going to work. I think he's 253 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,959 Speaker 1: sort of one of that those interesting figureheads there, but 254 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: one that had no interest in I don't think, at 255 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: least Via Ravens spokesperson weighing in on this story, I 256 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:01,120 Speaker 1: want to play devil's advoc get here really quickly. Some 257 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,319 Speaker 1: people would say, why would the Browns need to intentionally 258 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:09,199 Speaker 1: tank when they've been unintentionally awful for decades? I mean, 259 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: weren't haven't they already just been functionally tanking. You could 260 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: certainly make that argument. The specific argument that Jackson would 261 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: make was was obviously he's brought in there and they're saying, well, 262 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: we have cap space, we have draft capital, We're ready 263 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: to start building a winner. Here. One thing I do 264 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 1: want to mention, and it is, look, it's difficult to 265 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: get people to sort of be scandalized by tanking, right, 266 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: and everyone loves when their team is, if not winning 267 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:37,680 Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I think the next best thing for 268 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: a lot of fans is, well, let's have like a 269 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: really high draft pick and let's get a new quarterback 270 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: or whatever it might be for the players on that team. 271 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: And I spoke to one player who said he has 272 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:48,480 Speaker 1: been in touch with a lot of former teammates who 273 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: feel this kind of ruined their careers being on this team. 274 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: Not only from a reputational standpoint, but when you are 275 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: out there surrounded by kind of non NFL talent, you 276 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: look bad on tape. This derails your career to an extent. 277 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: And there is a group of players that they haven't 278 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: gone too far forward yet, but they're at least discussing 279 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: LEO action. I think what was so upsetting for a 280 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 1: lot of guys who were there at the time. And uh, 281 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: one of the guys who spoke on the record for 282 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: this story is is a coach named Ken Delgado. He 283 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 1: is actually currently with Hugh Jackson down in Grambling University, 284 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: but he had been a long time assistant coach in 285 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: college football. This was kind of his chance to break 286 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: through in seen with his brown staff. That was his 287 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,560 Speaker 1: first NFL job. As he says, you know that this 288 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: is everyone's dream job getting to the highest level of football. 289 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: Here he did a, you know, on paper, a decent 290 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: job with their defensive line. He was an assistant defensive 291 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 1: line coach on Jackson's staff in Cleveland. He was out 292 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 1: after the season and he just said straight up like, look, 293 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: I'm realistic about this. I'm not going to get back 294 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: into the league. That was my chance. I'm now branded 295 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: as part of this one in thirty one run that 296 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: the Browns had. No one's really going to pick up 297 00:15:57,520 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: the phone and want to bring me back in. For 298 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: the eyes who were there, they've sort of been branded 299 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: with this really problematic two year run and it ended 300 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: a lot of careers. And I think just to add 301 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 1: to that, I mean when when we saw with the 302 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins were initially doing under Brian Flores when they 303 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: first got there. Our former colleague Jenny Rerentis went down 304 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: to Miami and did a really excellent story on kind 305 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 1: of the ethics of this kind of rebuild. And I 306 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: do think that there are very real, as Gary mentioned, 307 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 1: safety concerns. And it's kind of interesting when you talk 308 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: to players across the spectrum where you know, certainly there 309 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: are some players who have been in the NFL and 310 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,880 Speaker 1: have developed that sort of calloused cynicism. I think about 311 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: what goes on in the league and it's like, yeah, 312 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: this is just what happens, this is life. But I 313 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: think there are some other people that like, hey, you know, 314 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: if I'm playing next to somebody who doesn't know what 315 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,360 Speaker 1: they're doing, that's gonna get me hurt. You know. I 316 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: think that's a similar refrain that you hear from, you know, 317 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: whether it's firefighters or police officers or whatever, and it's like, 318 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: you know, the test has to be hard because anyone 319 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: who passes it is saving my behind. And so I 320 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,639 Speaker 1: think that there's an element of that, certainly with the NFL, 321 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: where it's like, yeah, this thing you know, you have 322 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: to be competitive because if everyone isn't good, then I 323 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: get hurt. So there are repercussions in this that go 324 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:24,680 Speaker 1: beyond just Hugh Jackson or Jimmy Haslum or Paul D. 325 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:29,040 Speaker 1: Podesto or Sashi Brown. Not too much. Competitive integrity is 326 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: such sort of a vague thing, but one of the 327 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: big appeals of the NFL is the fact that any 328 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:37,959 Speaker 1: given Sunday, and that's not just any game, but any season. 329 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: The last three years we have had a Super Bowl 330 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:44,160 Speaker 1: participant who had a losing record the previous season. Giving 331 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,679 Speaker 1: those fans hope year to year is one of the 332 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: things that really is appealing about the NFL. We're not 333 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: even getting uh into the gambling aspect of this and 334 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: n d O. If you believe that a team's head 335 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 1: coach has been incentivized to lose game teams, especially towards 336 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: the end of the season, that has a lot of 337 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:06,160 Speaker 1: repercussions as far as the gambling community goes. And obviously, 338 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:08,199 Speaker 1: as we all know, we have a lot of lee 339 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:10,920 Speaker 1: wise gambling in this country now and nobody draws more 340 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: bets than the NFL does. The competitive integrity component is 341 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,199 Speaker 1: interesting to me because now we have the Browns and 342 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:20,879 Speaker 1: have we have allegations against them and tanking, and also 343 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: the Dolphins have been accused of tanking. Connor are we 344 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: to believe that they're the only two teams who might 345 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: have done this, or do we suspect that other organizations 346 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: might be exposed as well. I don't think that this 347 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 1: is necessarily wholly unique. I think what's unique about the 348 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: brown circumstance was that they decided to put it on paper, 349 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:46,119 Speaker 1: and I think that it also went too far. I 350 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:50,600 Speaker 1: think that anybody that's associated with that organization during that 351 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: time would say it went too far. And I think 352 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 1: that other teams have probably done softer versions of this, 353 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,680 Speaker 1: you know, many resets or or whatever, the kinder, gentler 354 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: version of this that you want to say is, but 355 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:08,960 Speaker 1: nowhere near to I think the scale and the aggressiveness 356 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,920 Speaker 1: with which the Browns did did their's alright. So, despite 357 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: all these documents and all these allegations, on Monday, the 358 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:20,440 Speaker 1: NFL said that the league's independent investigation found quote no 359 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:24,880 Speaker 1: evidence to substantiate the accusations of tanking. This feels like 360 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,879 Speaker 1: nothing to see here. The NFL is moving on situation. 361 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:30,879 Speaker 1: The Browns also issued a statement saying that they were 362 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: pleased with the findings or the lack of findings, which 363 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,919 Speaker 1: that's hardly surprising. I'm wondering what the two of you 364 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 1: make on where the NFL ultimately landed on this. I 365 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: wouldn't say I was surprised. Um. Certainly there are elements 366 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 1: of what seemed to be a legitimate building process by 367 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: the Browns throughout Hugh Jackson's time. They're right, in two 368 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: thousand seventeen they signed Kevin Zeitler, who was one of 369 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 1: the uh who was one of the most prominent free 370 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: agents on the market. Um, And there did at times 371 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,439 Speaker 1: certainly seemed to be some efforts to win games. And 372 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: they also, you know, we got our hands on a 373 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:15,400 Speaker 1: letter from the Commissioner to Jimmy Haslum that said, Hey, 374 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:17,239 Speaker 1: one of the things we saw in here was that 375 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 1: in this performance table that we had talked about before, 376 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: Hugh Jackson did make edits to it, and so that 377 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: would seem to to make him on board with what 378 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 1: was going on here. So again, I think this entire 379 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,119 Speaker 1: process is depending on how you look at it. You know, 380 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:39,359 Speaker 1: do you think that incentivizing someone to have more draft 381 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,720 Speaker 1: picks in the first few rounds of the draft is 382 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: legitimate or do you feel like that's just a way 383 00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 1: around incentivizing a tank, right, And so it's it's interesting. 384 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I think the NFL landed where 385 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,360 Speaker 1: they were comfortable landing. I don't think that they want 386 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: to open Pandora's box, especially with the Dolphins investigation going on, 387 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:07,640 Speaker 1: especially with everything happening regarding their gambling relationships and how 388 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,520 Speaker 1: everything's kind of not an uneven footing. I mean, it's 389 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,680 Speaker 1: all systems go, but you never want to portray this 390 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:17,120 Speaker 1: air of well, hey, there might not be things completely 391 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 1: above board going on here. So what I would make 392 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 1: of it is I think the NFL, if you had 393 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: to ask me before the investigations started, where they would land, 394 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,240 Speaker 1: I was guessing probably somewhere around here. Yeah. So, despite 395 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: the NFL trying to sweep all this onto the car, 396 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,880 Speaker 1: but you guys did some really excellent reporting on the subject. 397 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 1: I highly recommend everybody go read their story about this 398 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:38,840 Speaker 1: on si dot com, which we will link to in 399 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:41,640 Speaker 1: our show notes, and listen to them on the mm 400 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: QB podcast. Gary Grambling Connor Or thanks for us well, 401 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:53,080 Speaker 1: Thanks John, Thanks John. Sports Illustrated Weekly is a production 402 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: of Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. For more podcasts 403 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:58,680 Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 404 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,639 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. And 405 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,360 Speaker 1: for more of Sports Illustrated It's best stories and podcasts, 406 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,480 Speaker 1: visit SI dot com. The special bonus episode of Sports 407 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,080 Speaker 1: Illustrated Weekly was produced by Cooper mckimp Isaac Lee is 408 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:17,200 Speaker 1: our sound engineer. Our senior producer is Dan Blue. Our 409 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:21,720 Speaker 1: executive producers are Scott Brody and me John Gonzalez. Thanks 410 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:25,440 Speaker 1: for listening. Our regularly scheduled episode will appear in your 411 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:27,960 Speaker 1: feed tomorrow Wednesday, May four,