Jimmy Haslam said it’s a ‘sense of urgency’ for Cleveland Browns
PHOENIX — The general manager and the head coach are back for a fourth year together. The quarterback is expected to available for the full season. Free agency and a trade have altered the roster.
Does that mean Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is in full-on “Super Bowl or bust” mode as he looks at the upcoming season?
“I guess there are 32 teams that think their team’s going to win the Super Bowl,” Haslam said Monday to a small group of local reporters, including the Beacon Journal, at the NFL’s annual meetings at the Arizona Biltmore Resort. “I can assure you this — from ownership to personnel to coaching to the support people in the building — nobody wants to win more than the group of people I just listed. Nobody works harder or cares more about it. I think we’ve made some good progress in the offseason, both in the coaching staff and with the team. And I think we’re all optimistic going into this year. So I’ll just leave it at that.”
The Browns are coming off a 7-10 season a year ago That season was marred by the 11-game suspension of quarterback Deshaun Watson for personal conduct policy violations connected to more than two-dozen allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct during massage appointments while he was with the Houston Texans.
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However, that season was also a one-game regression from the previous season, which saw the Browns go 8-9. That was on the heels of the team’s best season since 1994 — both in terms of regular-season wins (11) and playoff advancement (AFC Divisional round) — in 2020, the first year of the tandem of general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Despite that regression, Haslam said Monday there was “no consideration” of firing the two after the season. The Browns did replace two of their coordinators after the season, hiring Jim Schwartz to take over for Joe Woods as defensive coordinator and Bubba Ventrone to take Mike Priefer’s job as special teams coordinator
“None of us thought we’d be 7-10 even with Jacoby (Brissett) playing 11 games, Deshaun, missing 11 games, however you want to say it,” Haslam said. “We were all disappointed, very disappointed. Like I said, the desire to win in that building, whether it’s ownership — I’m just repeating myself — on personnel coaches is extremely high. We’ve got high standards so we expect to do better.”
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