The Cleveland Browns have been at the center of media frenzy throughout the offseason as they try to navigate their way back to relevance. Much of that attention comes from drafting Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round, thanks to the massive following the rookie QB brings with him. But now, a new storm is brewing, this time sparked by a controversial comment from the team’s owner about their newest quarterback.
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Jimmy Haslam has been the owner of the Browns for quite some time now. He purchased the team in 2012 and even tried to own stakes in both this club and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But NFL rules don’t allow owners to control multiple teams, so he sold his Steelers stake and went all in on Cleveland.
Ever since then, though, the Browns have been incredibly bad. They’ve had just two winning seasons and endured a stretch from 2016 through 2017 where they went 1-15 and then 0-16 in succession. They’ve also employed five different head coaches since 2012.
With all of that in mind, imagine the disgust that came over some NFL analysts when Haslam recently tried to distance himself from Shedeur as a player he backed. That’s right… the Browns owner made it clear that he did not want to pick Sanders in the fifth round, passing it off as his GM’s decision.
“If you’d have told me, let’s see, we picked him on Saturday, right? Friday night, driving home, y’all are going to pick Shedeur. I would say, ‘That’s not happening.’” Haslem told the media.
“But we had a conversation earlier that morning, and had a conversation later that day. I think we had the right people involved in the conversation. At the end of the day, that’s Andrew Barry’s call. Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur.”
It’s a bit of a weird statement to make, especially without hearing the question that prompted it. There’s little point in denouncing your belief in your own players to the media. All it does is stir up a media storm, as reporters try to piece together why it was said.
Case in point: Shannon Sharpe, reacting to these comments, seemed to loathe Haslam. He couldn’t understand why the team owner said what he said.
“Who asked him that? Why did he feel the need to share that information, Ocho? That was unprompted. So, you’re dry snitching? Ain’t nobody asked you what round did you think you was going to take Shedeur in. Nobody asked you that,” Sharpe reiterated.
That’s a solid clapback. Unless there was some kind of ulterior motive, there wasn’t much point in saying what Haslam said. It made him look a bit like a coward. After all, he’s the owner of the team. Admitting he wasn’t fully on board with a draft selection in case it doesn’t work out shouldn’t be the course of action.
However, Chad Johnson thinks that Haslam’s non-involvement in the pick might actually work in Shedeur’s favor.
“Since 2000, the Cleveland Browns have had 35 different starting quarterbacks. But now you’re going to take it upon yourself to say that Shedeur Sanders wasn’t your pick. And that’s probably why it’s going to work. Because you had no dealings in him being drafted. Watch how God work,” Johnson said.
It’s an interesting thing to note. Since Haslam took over the team, he’s had 10 different quarterbacks lead in passing by season’s end. So, he’s not exactly a guru when it comes to selecting them.
At the end of the day, though, Haslam’s quotes on Shedeur were seemingly taken out of context. It was just poor delivery on his part. He sounded like he was trying to say that Andrew Berry makes all of the team’s decisions. But in the process, he also threw his new quarterback under the bus. He needs to watch what he says next time.
