Hue Jackson Says He Was 'Never Offered Money' to Lose Games as Browns Head Coach

Former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson backed off a prior insinuation that team owner Jimmy Haslam offered him money to lose games during his three-year tenure.

Jackson, who was hired as Grambling State's head coach in December, made a series of Twitter posts Tuesday about his time in Cleveland after former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the Dolphins, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and the NFL alleging racial discrimination.

"Trust me it was a good number!" Jackson, who served as the Browns' coach from 2016 until midway through the 2018 season, wrote on Twitter when questioned about Haslam's alleged offer amid a purported desire to lose games in order to improve draft position.

He attempted to clarify the situation during an interview Friday with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"No, I was never offered money like Brian had mentioned," Jackson said. "I think this is a totally different situation but has some similarities."

He added: "When you talk about incentivizing a four-year plan that led to the team not being able to play as well, that people benefited off of that—that's different. But at the same time, it has some of the same similarities to it."

While Jackson didn't provide direct evidence of Haslam's alleged actions, he told Cooper he's kept documents and that information "will come to light at the right time."

"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," he said. "And I told him that it would hurt every Black coach that would follow me. And I have the documents to prove this."

A Browns spokesperson released a statement Wednesday saying Jackson's allegations are "completely fabricated," and Haslam also denied the claims in an interview with Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel on Thursday.

"Unequivocally, Hue Jackson was never paid to lose games," Haslam said. "That is an absolute falsehood. And it's also an absolute falsehood that I laughed while we were losing. Most people who know me would say, 'That's not how Jimmy would react to losing.'"

The Browns owner added Jackson "never ever accepted any responsibility for our record during that time period."

Cleveland posted a 3-36-1 mark during Jackson's tenure, including a winless season in 2017.

In Jackson's defense, the Browns used six different quarterbacks during his first two seasons and none of them were NFL-caliber starters: Cody Kessler, Josh McCown, Robert Griffin III, Charlie Whitehurst, Kevin Hogan and DeShone Kizer.

Going 0-16 in 2017 allowed them to select Baker Mayfield with the first pick in the 2018 draft.

Mayfield struggled during the first half of his rookie season (78.9 passer rating) but started to find his stride over the final eight games after Jackson was let go (106.2 passer rating).

Cleveland reached the divisional round of the playoffs last season, but its overall record over the past three years is still a modest 25-24, so the jury is still out on whether the team's roster reconstruction plans were successful.

Jackson didn't provide a timetable for when he'll come forward with more details about his allegations against the Browns.