Cleveland Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam Desperately Needs Everybody To Know That Shedeur Sanders Was 100% Not His Pick
It would appear that Jimmy Haslam just completed a crash course at the Jerry Jones Chaos Academy. Any time you have a chance to throw your GM under the bus and completely distance yourself from a potential starter on your roster, you absolutely have to take it. Not only will it cause a massive distraction during training camp, but it'll also sow mistrust and resentment all throughout your locker room.
Jimmy Haslam ain't no dummy. He's fighting for his life here, and he knows what is at stake. If Shedeur Sanders sees any actual time in the NFL this year--and there's a damn good chance he does considering the current status of the Browns' QB room--and he fails miserably? Well there's no chance he'll ever be able to get the fans back on his side.
When a team is just starting to suck, the fans are always going to be quick to turn on the coach. When a team has been stuck towards the basement of the league for a few years in a row, the fans are always going to turn on the general manager. When a team has been absolute dog shit for as long as the Cleveland Browns have been dog shit, well then the fans are going to aim their hatred directly at the owner. And he's had the target locked on him for a while now thanks to the quarterback position in Cleveland being one of the most remarkably atrocious stretches of incompetence we've ever seen in sports.
So Jimmy Haslam has to get ahead of this one. He needs to distance himself from the start. If Shedeur ends up seeing some action this year because Joe Flacco, who started his NFL career when Shedeur was starting kindergarten--gets injured, then Jimmy Haslam needs it to be known that he had nothing to do with bringing him to Cleveland. If Shedeur struggles out there, then he can avoid taking any of the blame personally. If Shedeur goes out and kills it? Then Jimmy Haslam gets to take credit for trusting his GM to make such a big decision without his stamp of approval. It's a scummy tactic for sure, but it's also genius.
But nobody's asshole is tighter in football right now than Andrew Berry. His entire livelihood now rests upon Shedeur Sanders not being a bust in the NFL. That's a tough spot to find yourself in.