Cross the Browns of the list of potential Hard Knocks subjects.
Browns coach Mike Pettine said that his team was asked if it would appear on the show and declined. Pettine noted that as a first-year head coach he has the right to say no, and that’s a right he wanted to exercise while he learns on the job.
“It was for the same reason we didn’t feel super comfortable having a camera in the draft room,” Pettine told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Let’s get through the first time, let’s get through the first year.”
Teams can refuse if they’ve done Hard Knocks in the last 10 years, if they’ve made the playoffs in either of the last two years, or if they have a new head coach. Pettine has been through Hard Knocks before as an assistant with the Jets, and he said it’s possible he might do it again as a head coach with the Browns. Just not this year.
“There are positives and negatives to doing it,” Pettine said. “It’s not something I would say we’d never do, partly because the league can make us do it.”
The Browns will have one of the most intriguing training camps in football this season, thanks to the arrival of Johnny Manziel. But Pettine said the Browns were first approached about it before the draft.
