Hue Jackson Says He Received $750K as Incentive for Tanking During Browns Tenure

Former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson said he was paid $750,000 in bonuses for tanking games during his tenure with the franchise.

Jackson made the statement Thursday during an appearance on ESPN's Keyshawn, JWill and Max. The dollar amount was new information amid the fallout from Brian Flores' lawsuit against the NFL.

Flores alleged that Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per loss to tank for draft position during the 2019 season. According to the suit, Flores declined the offer, which led to tension between himself and management. 

Jackson, who went 3-36-1 during his tenure in Cleveland, said Wednesday on SportsCenter that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam presented him with a four-year plan for the franchise that did not include winning for at least the first two seasons (h/t WQKT): 

“Teams that win are just not the youngest team, not that the youngest teams can’t win, so I didn’t understand the process. I didn’t understand what the plan was, I asked for clarity because it did not talk about winning and losing until Year 3 and 4. So that told you right there that something wasn’t correct but I still couldn’t understand it until I had the team that I had.”

Jackson said he felt like he was being set up to fail because "no head coach is going to survive if you lose a lot of games.”

The Browns fired Jackson midway through his third season. He is now the head coach at Grambling State.