Hue Jackson Could Join Brian Flores’ Lawsuit, Alleging Similar Tanking Incentives With Browns

Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson confirms former Browns HC Hue Jackson is strongly considering joining former Dolphins HC Brian Flores‘ lawsuit, alleging he has had similar experiences and has proof. 

Among many troubling allegations in a lawsuit filed yesterday, Flores says Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 for every loss in 2019 as Miami tried to tank for the No. 1 pick. 

Jackson implied in a series of tweets that he was also offered money to lose games by owner Jimmy Haslem. 

Kimberly Diemert, who is the executive director of the Hue Jackson Foundation, claims they have records that prove Haslem paid Jackson, executives Sashi Brown, Paul DePodesta and Andrew Berry to lose games. 

In other tweets, Diemert says she and Jackson raised this issue to the NFL but were leveraged into a gag order during arbitration. 

Robinson confirms Jackson had a confidential fraud grievance against the Browns in 2018 as a result of his firing which was settled by an arbitrator, as is NFL policy. The arbitrator ruled against Jackson but that is not considered a definitive determination of fact legally. 

Robinson adds Jackson has materials and is willing to testify, saying he’s reached out to Flores to arrange a meeting soon.

Jackson tweeted this morning: “I stand with Brian Flores. I can back up every word I’m saying.”

The Browns denied the allegations in a statement: “The recent comments by Hue Jackson and his representatives relating to his tenure as our head coach are completely fabricated. Any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false.” 

Jackson, 57, began his NFL coaching career back in 2001 as the Washington RBs coach. He worked for the Bengals, Falcons and Ravens before he was hired by the Raiders as their offensive coordinator in 2010.

Jackson was later promoted to head coach but lasted one season at the helm. After four years with the Bengals, Jackson was hired as the Browns head coach in 2016 but lasted just over three years in Cleveland.

The Bengals hired Jackson as a special assistant to Marvin Lewis before parting ways with him in 2019. Jackson signed on to become the head coach at Grambling State in 2021. 

During his time as the Browns’ head coach, Jackson led them to a record of 3-36-1 (8.8 percent) and no playoff appearances.

We’ll have more on the situation with Flores, Jackson and the NFL as the news is available.