Cleveland Browns: Is friction between Hue Jackson, Todd Haley leading to power struggle?

It seems like there’s something not right with the relationship of head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley for the Cleveland Browns

Real or not, there seems to be some friction between the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and their offensive coordinator. We all saw it unfold when Todd Haley tried to make a suggestion on ‘Hard Knocks’ and Jackson quickly shut him down and reminded him who is the boss.

It was an awkward conversation that went quickly from a discussion to ‘shut up and do as I say.’ The guys shrugged it off as a normal conversation between passionate football guys, which seems fair enough. However, on Sunday things once again got weird.

All week Jackson made it clear he didn’t want Josh Gordon to start on Sunday. Then when the Browns took the field for the first offensive snap, Gordon was out there with the first team. Jackson wasn’t happy and claims to have “dealt with it” and moved on.

He did also say that Gordon was there because of the play call from the offensive coordinator. Well, that stands out. Usually, teams script their first set of plays for a game and it’s likely Haley knew what he wanted to do before the game started.

Could it be that Haley was, in fact, challenging Jackson? If so, that could be an issue going forward.

Haley was brought in to run the offense — something that Jackson was doing, but was failing at. It’s also Jackson’s claim to fame as his years as an assistant led him to the place he’s at now. Jackson likely feels slightly threatened by that, and this latest mix up won’t help.

Maybe, in the end, it was all a miscommunication like Jackson said. But if not, there could end up being an ugly power struggle before long between two men with rather large egos.