Hue Jackson says Cleveland Browns tenure was his ‘best coaching’ ever

Former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson had a historically bad tenure in Cleveland, but he believes it was the best coaching he ever did.

Former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson may never get another head coaching gig in the NFL again because of his rough tenure in Cleveland.

Jackson led the Browns to being only the second team in NFL history to an 0-16 record in 2017 and a 3-36-1 overall record in two and half seasons in Cleveland.

Despite the poor record, Jackson said Wednesday in an interview with Charlotte, N.C. radio station WFNZ that he believes his time with the Cleveland Browns was the “best coaching I did” – via Daryl Ruiter of WKRK-92.3 The Fan.

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During the 2016 offseason, Jackson was arguably the hottest name during the coaching cycle. After having great success as the Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator, Jackson was expected to be the No. 1 candidate for many job openings.

The Browns were hoping that by hiring Jackson, he would be able to turn a young Browns offense into a strong unit. He was also a hot commodity because he was known as a “quarterback guru,” and the Browns believed he would be the key to finding and developing a franchise quarterback.

But with the Browns front office tearing apart the roster, Jackson was handed a team that was designed to lose games. However, they were not designed to lose as many as they did under Jackson, as the head coach made many questionable decisions that would ultimately cost the team wins and a 1-31 record his first two seasons.

Whether it be time management issues or how he handled the depth chart, Jackson was more of a detriment to the team’s success instead of being a coach that could help the team steal some wins.

But one of the biggest problems with Jackson’s tenure was how he insisted on not adjusting his offense to fit his personnel and instead kept the same offensive concepts no matter who was on the field. The biggest evidence of this was keeping his vertical offense with Cody Kessler despite Kessler’s lack of arm strength and poor downfield accuracy.

However, the biggest negative to Jackson’s time with the Browns was how he handled the quarterback position last season. Even though Cleveland selected Baker Mayfield with the first overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, Jackson gave the starting quarterback job to Tyrod Taylor without having a competition.

In the two and a half games Taylor started, he struggled to complete passes and led an incredibly inefficient offense. But once Mayfield took over after Taylor suffered an injury, the Browns offense took off and Cleveland started to win games.

Jackson has heard his fair share of criticism from several Cleveland Browns players, including Mayfield and most recently David Njoku. For a coach that was supposed to lead a young Browns team, it appeared that he created more detractors and enemies in the Cleveland locker room.

Jackson may feel like his two and half years with the Browns was some of his best coaching ever, but there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. And the rest of the NFL may see the same evidence because of Jackson still being unemployed.