During Jimmy Haslam’s brief tenure as owner of the Browns, he has been criticized for everything from firing coaches too quickly to disarray in the front office to drafting Johnny Manziel because a homeless person told him to. Some of the criticism has been over the top (no, it wasn’t really the homeless guy who made the call on Manziel), but some of it has been justified.
Haslam himself admitted that, noting that the Browns can accept that some criticism has been self-inflicted.
“Nobody likes criticism, let’s face it,” Haslam said, via ESPN. “We’ve had our share, some of it probably self-inflicted and deserved. Others maybe not. But it is what it is.”
Even if you think the Browns made the right moves when they got rid of CEO Joe Banner, G.M. Mike Lombardi and coach Rob Chudzinski, it’s hard to dispute that those moves made the franchise look like it didn’t know what it was doing. And first-round draft picks Manziel and Justin Gilbert had rough rookie seasons that called into question the Browns’ ability to acquire the right personnel.
On the other hand, the Browns really did take a step forward on the field last season. Granted, a 7-9 season isn’t “a step forward” in most places, but in Cleveland it is. That was the Browns’ best record since 2007.
“The best thing we can do is win and build up some equity and capital. Until we win and win consistently, we don’t have that,” Haslam said.
He’s right about that. The Browns haven’t won a playoff game since 1994, when Bill Belichick was the coach -- and that was the franchise that left Cleveland and changed its name to the Ravens, not the current iteration of the Browns franchise. Until the Browns can win, they’ll deserve the criticism.
