NFL snubs Browns coaching staff for Senior Bowl appearance

The Cleveland Browns were in the running to have the coaching staff work at the Senior Bowl this month. But the NFL decided that one year of Hue Jackson and company were enough.

There are advantages to finishing with the worst record in the NFL, which the Cleveland Browns did for the second consecutive year under head coach Hue Jackson this season.

The biggest one is that the Browns earned the right to select No. 1 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. The Browns have that secured — unless general manager John Dorsey decides to trade it away. (And wouldn’t that just be so much fun?)

The other perk, although less tangible from a benefit standpoint, is that the coaching staff is in the running to lead one of the team’s in the annual Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

Jackson and his staff ran the South roster in the 2017 game, which is mostly remembered for Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson “snubbing” Jackson and the Browns by not participating.

Well, Jackson and his staff don’t have to worry about a player turning them down this year because the NFL has decided that a one-and-done approach to Jackson is the proper course of action.

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Just a day after Jackson said he would be open to spending a week in Mobile later this month, the news broke that the NFL will bypass the Browns and bring the coaching staffs from the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans to Alabama for the game.

Teams that have made a coaching change are not eligible, so once the NFL said “thanks, but no thanks” to the Browns they had to pass over the New York Giants, who fired head coach Ben McAdoo in December, and the Indianapolis Colts, who fired head coach Chuck Pagano after Sunday’s game, leaving the Broncos and Texans as next in line.

Once the news broke that the Broncos and Texans were in, and the Browns were out, Twitter started to fill up with stories about how the Browns were do disorganized, disrespectful and generally incompetent last year that the NFL simply decided it did not want a repeat performance.

If only Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was wise enough to reach the same conclusion after watching Jackson lead the Browns to just the second 0-16 season in NFL history and a league-worst 1-31 record over the past two seasons.