Cleveland Browns: Hue Jackson remains the biggest question mark

With all the changes to the Cleveland Browns roster this offseason there’s a new hope, but the big question is whether or not head coach Hue Jackson can win

All the questions are getting answered this offseason. We know that the Cleveland Browns expect Baker Mayfield to be the future quarterback. We also know that Tyrod Taylor is there to start until Mayfield is ready.

It’s also no question that they expect Jarvis Landry to be their go-to receiver and that offensive coordinator Todd Haley isn’t worried about how to divvy up touches among his trio of running backs — Carlos Hyde, Duke Johnson and Nick Chubb.

On defense they look strong too. Defensive end Myles Garrett is back and healthy in year two and this is the best group of linebackers the Browns have had in recent memory.

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What we don’t know is if their head coach is the right man for the job.

Hue Jackson somehow kept his job when new general manager John Dorsey took over despite an atrocious 1-31 record with the team. When you factor in his one other season as the Oakland Raiders head coach he’s 9-39, which doesn’t look any better.

That kind of career record instills no confidence and makes it fair to wonder wether or not keeping the coach was the right call.

That very question was raised recently by Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com, who also pointed out that Jackson has to at some point realize he was a huge part of the problem in 2016 and 2017:

"“The majority of the blame was on the roster being stripped down and going extremely young.But not all of it.That’s where Jackson has to take some responsibility beyond his periodic statements of “we have to coach better.”I’m not going to dwell on all the mistakes. I’ll simply say one win in two years — it’s not all the fault of the players or the Sashi Brown front office.” — Pluto, Cleveland.com"

Pluto did point out that the hiring of Todd Haley was progress and could help Jackson. However, a coach who has to have all his power taken away is not a good coach at all — and for Hue, offense was supposed to be his calling card. So it was what he does best, yet the team is in better hands with him staying away?

Maybe Jackson proves us all wrong and the team starts winning. Maybe he’s on a short leash. Who knows.

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The fact remains though that the Browns have a coach with one of the worst records of all time, and until we see whether or not he can actually win, there will remain a giant question mark over this franchise.