Cleveland Browns: Steelers interviewed Hue Jackson for offensive coordinator

Could former Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson be back in the AFC North?

Former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson has been out of football for two years now, but he could be making his return to the NFL with another AFC North team.

He was reportedly interviewed by the Pittsburgh Steelers this week for their vacant offensive coordinator position, the spot he held with the Cincinnati Bengals before the Browns hired him in 2016.

It’s easy to look back on Jackson’s time in Cleveland as a disaster, and it was, but he did actually have a pretty solid track record and was considered perhaps the top candidate in the 2016 hiring cycle. He went 8-8 as interim HC with the Oakland Raiders in 2011, which was an accomplishment considering all the chaos and changes that the organization was going through during that time.

He then spent two seasons as the OC with the Bengals, and turned Andy Dalton into a fringe MVP candidate in 2015. With a reputation as a quarterback whisperer, Jackson seemed like a great choice to lead a new era of Browns football.

Everyone knows what followed. He went 1-31 during his first two seasons in Cleveland, and was fired after a 2-5-1 start in 2018. Beyond the team’s poor performance on the field, Jackson had a habit of throwing other people under the bus, once claiming that “Me and you, all five of us could have run through that hole” after Isaiah Crowell scampered for a 59-yard gain.

Jackson also consistently leaked details to NFL Network’s Michael Silver, whom Jackson has a close relationship with, that cast the Sashi Brown-led front office in a negative light. The coaching staff and front office were never on the same page, and were constantly at odds with each other. That’s one of the biggest reasons why the current regime is working out so well; they have a unified vision.

Jackson has been a solid playcaller in the past (except when he was with the Browns), but fans shouldn’t lose any sleep over the possibility of him joining a division rival, especially with the way Ben Roethlisberger played this past season.