CLEVELAND: Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is approaching the organization’s eternal search for a franchise quarterback with the following mindset: In coach Hue Jackson we trust.
After the Browns passed on opportunities last month to draft two quarterbacks in the first round — North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and Memphis’ Paxton Lynch — and instead bet on reclamation-project Robert Griffin III and Southern California’s Cody Kessler in the third round, Jackson said, “You’ve got to trust me on this one.”
Haslam insisted Monday he’s obliging because Jackson’s “track record’s been pretty good” with quarterbacks. The list of former pupils includes Carson Palmer, Joe Flacco, Jason Campbell and Andy Dalton. Now Jackson’s projected starter is Griffin, who joined the Browns by signing a two-year, $15 million contract in March, and the passer he has handpicked to groom is Kessler.
“Listen, you all understand as well as we do the importance of that position,” Haslam said moments after he and co-owner and wife, Dee, announced at FirstEnergy Stadium they would pay to refurbish five Cleveland Metropolitan School District fields with synthetic turf during the next two years. “You just look at the teams that are really good in the NFL, and for the most part, they’re really good at that position.
“I think we have a head coach who understands talent at that position, but equally as important, how to coach them. You’re all at practice, and he’s coaching the quarterbacks hard every day, and I think that’ll make a difference over a period of time.”
When the Browns ended the 2015 season with a record of 3-13 on Jan. 3, Haslam fired coach Mike Pettine, General Manager Ray Farmer and spoke about the team’s exhausting quest for a long-term quarterback with optimism, pointing out “we do have the second pick in the draft.”
However, the new regime led by head of football operations Sashi Brown, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and Jackson traded down from No. 2 overall to No. 8 in a blockbuster deal with the Philadelphia Eagles on April 20, eight days before the draft began. Then with the draft underway on April 28, the Browns traded down from No. 8 to No. 15, where they selected Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman.
The Eagles identified Wentz as their quarterback of the future and picked him at No. 2. Later in the first round, the Denver Broncos traded up from No. 31 to No. 26 to select Lynch.
Despite Haslam’s season-ending hope for the No. 2 pick to deliver a solution at quarterback, he said the front office didn’t have a hard time selling him on the trade down.
“No, we had been talking about various opportunities since the end of the season, and I think the guys did a really nice job of working through it and thinking things through and you all know the math as well as I do,” Haslam said. “And when you trade out of the No. 2 pick, you get value, and I think we turned the No. 2 pick into the No. 8 and then quickly the No. 15 pick, into tremendous value and now the key thing is to use that value.”
The Browns made three more trades (five total) and tied an NFL record by selecting 14 players in the April 28-30 draft. They also own two first-round selections next year, two second-round picks next year and two second-round choices in 2018 after all the wheeling and dealing.
“We got a lot of players,” Haslam said. “... I think what’s equally important is that we positioned ourselves well for the next two drafts, so we’re excited.”
They drafted the following seven players with picks acquired in their move down from No. 2 or subsequent deals involving those selections: Coleman, right tackle Shon Coleman (Auburn, third round, No. 76 overall), Kessler (third round, No. 93), receiver Ricardo Louis (Auburn, fourth round, No. 114), safety Derrick Kindred (TCU, fourth round, No. 129), receiver Jordan Payton (UCLA, fifth round, No. 154) and right tackle Spencer Drango (Baylor, fifth round, No. 168).
“Time will tell how good our draft is,” Haslam said. “You guys have seen a lot of drafts, and some are rated high and don’t end up so well and vice versa. But we felt good how everybody worked together and how they followed the process and stayed on plan.
“The chemistry was good. There was lots of debate, vigorous, healthy debate. But the group worked together extremely well. That’s what made us feel best. They followed the process. They followed the plan.”
The plan devised by the new brain trust is viewed through a skeptical lens by many in NFL circles because of its reliance on analytics.
But the Haslams are thrilled about how their new management group is performing.
“I think they’re all working toward a common goal, and that is to turn this from one of the weakest franchises in the NFL to one of the strongest franchises,” Haslam said. “Everybody in the building, coaches, scouts, et cetera, focused on that every day.”
Dee Haslam added, “Low ego, too. They all are really wanting to work well together, and they left their egos outside the door.”
Now they just need to get that pesky quarterback conundrum figured out, and they’re leaning heavily on Jackson’s guidance in an effort to do so.
More on fields
Two of the fields the Haslams will refurbish — Roye Kidd Field and James F. Rhodes Field — will be completed for the start of the 2016 high school football season. John Adams Field and John Marshall Field will be renovated in 2017. The timeline for Bump Taylor Field is being finalized. The fields will be used by several sports, not just football.
“We are firm believers in education,” Jimmy Haslam said. “We think it is the best way to help young people and hopefully this gift will encourage more people to play sports.
“Hopefully this will help more people not only enjoy the benefits of playing sports, but stay in school and do better in school to inspire them to have a better life.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.