On Tuesday, news broke that former Miami Dolphins HC Brian Flores was suing the NFL and a trio of teams claiming racism in their hiring process.
In the suit, Flores alleges that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per game to tank for a higher draft pick.
Now, former NFL head coach Hue Jackson claims to have proof that the Cleveland Browns also incentivized tanking.
From Yahoo:
Two sources close to former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson said Wednesday that Jackson has made arrangements to speak with Flores’ attorneys about the suit as early as today. The sources also said Jackson has expressed a willingness to provide both testimony and materials to the class action suit, alleging that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam financially incentivized “tanking” for draft position through the use of a bonus structure during the 2016 and 2017 seasons, when Cleveland went 1-31.
Prior to this suit, Jackson had spoken critically about black head coaches having their success undermined by owners that allegedly set a double standard for minority coaches when it comes to the building and success of franchises — as well as the “second chance” opportunities granted to white head coaches versus minorities. Jackson also repeatedly has made claims that during his time in Cleveland, Haslam blindsided him with the size of the rebuild that was going to be undertaken, as well as some of the methods that would be employed during the rebuild.
On Tuesday, he added a wrinkle to those claims, suggesting that Haslam tied finances to what Diemert said was tanking. Responding to a tweet that said “Haslam wasn’t offering 100k per loss,” Jackson said “Trust me it was a good number!”
Nation, do you think these recent allegations will force the NFL to make some changes?
