Cleveland Browns: Is Hue Jackson currently the worst NFL head coach?

Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson has had a historically bad tenure with the Browns, but is he currently the worst head coach i the NFL?

Erik Lambert from nflmocks.com recently ranked the NFL head coaches in the NFL. He ranked Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson as the worst head coach in the NFL. This article goes in depth on why Jackson should and shouldn’t be ranked there.

Hue’s Case As The Worst Head Coach In The NFL

1-31. As Lambert says explaining in his article, that is the worst any NFL head coach has done in his first 32 games in NFL history. Jackson was also one miracle block away from being 0-32 over the past two years. Regardless of team talent, there’s no way an NFL team should lose 31 of their past 32 games.

As the conductor of the orchestra, these 31 losses are directly blamed on Jackson. As a head coach, you’re main job is to manage the players you have and get the most of out them. This leads the outside viewer to have to assess if Hue has had 1-31 talent.

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The 2016-2017 Cleveland Browns had a pretty bad roster. The team hadn’t had a first round draft pick actually be worth his pick since 2010. The draft class that year was large, bringing in 14 players. Of those 14, four or five of them seem to have futures on this roster. None of them are top players from the draft class, but are serviceable players.

The 2017-2018 Cleveland Browns had the first pick in the draft coming to their roster, along with another large rookie class. The Browns selected 10 rookies in that draft. Five of these rookies seem to have bright futures with the team. Myles Garrett is one of the five, as he was by far the most talented player in that draft class coming out of college.

With a revamped all-star-like offensive line and a defense aided by the number one pick, the Browns should have won a game last season. NFL games are won up front in the trenches and the Cleveland Browns had one of the best trench units in the NFL offensively and defensively combined.

The only way the Browns shouldn’t have won a game would be if the quarterback play was historically bad. Which it could be considered as so.

Hue’s Case For Why He Isn’t The Worst Head Coach In The NFL

To make this case, one has to go deep into Jackosn’s career. He had one season as the head coach of the Raiders, where he found a little bit of success. Hue led the team to a 7-4 record, then would drop 4 of the next 5 games to finish 8-8.

This was with a team where his quarterbacks were Carson Palmer, Jason Campbell, and Kyle Boller. Quarterback play was pretty sub-par on this Raiders team. Jackson was able to get this Raiders team close to their full potential, but would be fired in the off-season.

The quarterback play of the 2016-2017 Cleveland Browns and the 2017-2018 Cleveland Browns were significantly bad. A cycle of busted rookies, an undrafted free agent, and two slightly above average veterans that were injury prone while in Cleveland.

The 2017-2018 Cleveland Browns seemed cursed all season. Iron man Hall Of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas suffered an injury that would end his season and would also end up being the last game of his career. Week 1 showed promise, but a first quarter blocked punt would later show to be a bad omen.

Jackson arguably had the two worst rosters in the NFL during his 1-31 stretch. His best offensive weapon (Josh Gordon) was suspended for all but five of those games. The receiver core Jackson has had has been putrid. Besides Gordon, none of the receivers he has had are not even solid second options.

The Final Verdict

If Jackson isn’t the worst head coach in the NFL, he is definitely up there. Again, a 1-31 record is historically bad. Despite poor quarterback play, Jackson has had rosters with much higher potentials than 1-15 or 0-16 during his time with the Browns.

Next: Browns playoff run unlikely due to road schedule

Out of the 32 NFL head coaches, Jackson definitely has the hottest seat of the bunch. If the Browns start off poor this season, he could be fired during the season.

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