Hue Jackson Says He Wanted To Draft Wentz, Watson & Mahomes, Front Office Had Different Plan

Former Browns HC Hue Jackson explained in an interview with Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer that passing on quarterbacks like Carson Wentz, Deshaun Watson, and Patrick Mahomes put the team in a bad spot the first two years.

“We passed on three franchise QBs the first two years in Wentz, Watson and Mahomes,” Jackson said. “We played with a QB room with zero wins in the league. We played with street free agents and practice squad players in WRs. Yet our offense was the same or better than what we were doing this year. There is no way that should happen.

“You can’t pass on quarterbacks. You never pass on a potential franchise quarterback because you don’t know who’s going to be there in the future. I think Baker Mayfield is going to be a sensational player if they surround him with the right people, but they’ve got to give him help and run a scheme suited to his skill set.”

Jackson said he wanted to draft Wentz in his first year as the Browns’ head coach, but the front office was focused on trading back and accumulating draft picks.

“Oh my gosh, yes. Did I like Carson Wentz? Hell yes,” Jackson said. “He did something that no other quarterback did. I give them three minutes to memorize the book and put on the (white) board. He put it all on the board in two minutes and 48 seconds. I’ve never had a guy do that ever in my coaching career.

“But the plan was never to take a quarterback that year. It was all about trading back to get picks. If you’re doing that you’ve got to pick the right players.”

As for Mahomes and Watson, Jackson tells Cabot that he liked both players, but the front office wanted to take Myles Garrett at No. 1 and the Chiefs and Texans wound up trading up ahead of them.

“I like Patrick and DeShaun a lot. I got to know them both,” Jackson said. “Pat and I  had really good relationship. I loved his skillset. I loved his ability to throw the ball around and all of that. I built a good rapport with him. I had them ranked very close to each other.”

The Browns took Myles Garrett at No. 1 despite the fact some in the front office wanted Mitchell Trubisky at No. 1. The Chiefs then jumped up over the Browns and drafted Mahomes at No. 10, and the Browns traded the No. 12 pick to the Texans, who took Watson. All three quarterbacks are playing well this season, with Mahomes arguably the hottest QB in the NFL with 26 TD passes. Garrett is tied for second in the NFL with 8 sacks.”

The Browns did draft quarterbacks each of the first two years, but declined to take one in the first round. Instead, the grabbed Cody Kessler in the third and followed that up by using a second-round pick on DeShone Kizer the following year.

Jackson came under criticism for how he handled the young quarterbacks, particularly Kizer last year.

After bringing in John Dorsey as GM, the Browns took Baker Mayfield at No. 1 overall.

However, the offense struggled this year. Jackson believes he could have turned things around if he had the opportunity to get more involved, but the Browns made the decision to completely overhaul the offensive staff earlier in the week, which led to Jackson and OC Todd Haley being dismissed.