Posted on 01/03/2025 5:53:27 AM PST by Rummyfan
Jimmy Haslam confidently stepped through the halls of the Ritz-Carlton Las Colinas near Dallas on a Wednesday in December, unhurried but with purpose.
The 70-year-old Cleveland Browns owner wore orangish-brown slacks with an off-white blazer, a folder curled in his right hand, the contents of which are reserved for NFL billionaires. The league's owners meetings had just adjourned. Between greetings to the reporters and league officials scattered in the hotel hallways, Haslam, still on the move, was asked about the state of his team.
He acknowledged the three-win Browns had a lot of work to do. When asked what that work looked like, he chuckled slightly, an acknowledgement of the heavy lift ahead.
"Yeah, I mean, I think we have a lot of needs as a team," the Browns owner told ESPN. "We have to prioritize those. We went from 11-6 and making the playoffs to 3-10. So, it's a little perplexing exactly what happened."
Roughly 1,200 miles away at the Browns' training facility in Berea, Ohio, coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry were preparing for that Sunday's matchup with the NFL-leading Kansas City Chiefs, trying to identify hope in a lost season and pondering some of the same questions Haslam cited. Stefanski and Berry will likely be at the forefront of an effort to turn around one of the NFL's storied but notoriously star-crossed franchises, moving the organization, now 3-13 headed into a Saturday contest at the Ravens (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC/ESPN+), in the general direction of what would be its elusive first Super Bowl.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
It is puzzling how a team can be so bad for so long. The graveyard of quarterbacks. A standard for mediocrity and incompetence.
The Lions have showed what a change in ownership can do.
Dumping Baker Mayfield and signing Deshaun Watson to a huge contract that is now an albatross on the franchise was a step in that direction.
“ It is puzzling how a team can be so bad for so long. The graveyard of quarterbacks. A standard for mediocrity and incompetence.”
Are you talking about the Browns or the Jets?
Same thing needed in Dallas.
Former fan......
LOL! The Jets also fit this description.
Hey,things can be worse. Our Bill Belichek,about 75 years old,now has a 25 year old girlfriend. Rumor has it that he’s worth about $70 million. My guess is that she’s worth a bit less.
They got rid of the OC. Guy managed to get them to the playoffs with 5 different QBs in the season. And then they were all “oh he doesn’t call the style of game we think will work best for Watson, so bye” and now they’re back to sucking.
Our son that lives in Columbus calls it “Browning things up” when things seem to be going along ok, but then a couple of errors or misjudgments performed quickly make the thing you’re working on turn towards a fiasco.
Harris’ campaign comes to mind as an example of “Browning things up”.
Yes! If it can happen for the Detroit Lions, it can happen for ANYBODY!
Meanwhile, Baker Mayfield is taking the Bucs to the playoffs, again.
I’m sure Belichek’s new play toy really and truly loves him. Neither one of them has any self-respect.
Yeah ditching him was also a mistake. They were getting better. But I flabbergasted last year when they got rid of the OC. Even more so when he didn’t immediately get a head coaching job. Injuries made them switch QBs basically every 3rd game and he still managed to put together a consistently good offense, and they dump him?!
Yeah, there are blacks like Sequeon Barkley, Patrick Mahomes and Jaden Daniels...can't trust them. S/OFF
Look, Deshaun Watson is a filthy dirt bag, regardless of color.
Your first sentence is beyond racist, it is stupid.
You need to apologize to every FReeper that read this post because you are way worse than a DIRTYSECRET.
Thank you. Glad you have no issue with the truth.
What an insanely racist thing to say.
But the girl must be recognized as being smart. Even if she signed anything resembling a prenup it’s my understanding that they’re easy to break in court. So regardless of what might happen she’ll walk away with a good bit of change.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.