Managing and Principal Partner Jimmy Haslam (1.5.26)
Opening Statement:
“Good morning, everyone. Personnel decisions, particularly with people at the top of an organization, are always difficult. And I can tell you, having made a lot of these over the years, that this was as difficult as any we’ve ever had to make because of the quality of the person involved. Organized, worked hard, navigated our ship for six years through the inevitable ups and downs that we face in the NFL – outstanding father and husband. And I think even you all, who are around a lot, probably underappreciate how much time we all spend together. And there’s nothing more fun than winning an NFL game like we did the last two weeks, beating our archrival (Pittsburgh) Steelers two weeks ago and then winning yesterday on the last play of the game and seeing the joy in the locker room. And there’s nothing more distasteful than losing an NFL game. And it’s finite – you either win or you lose. And Kevin (Stefanski) did a lot of good things here over his time period with us. It was an extremely difficult decision we made. I shouldn’t say I have no doubt…I would be highly optimistic that Kevin will be a head coach again in the league.
Now I want to turn our attention and talk to our fans. And I want you to hear this, okay? First of all, ownership takes full responsibility for where we are. To win eight games in two years is horrible – it’s totally unacceptable and it’s not going to continue. And I want the fans to know we are as frustrated as you are, and we hear a lot from our fans, which we actually appreciate. We have great fans, they’re extremely passionate, and they deserve better than what they’ve gotten in the last two years. I don’t need to say anything else – we are going to give you a better product. Our sole goal here is to be a consistent winner, not make the playoffs [only] in ‘20 and then make it again in ‘23, not win eight games in two years. That’s not what we’re trying to do, that’s not acceptable. Our fans deserve better. We’ll start the head coach search, literally this afternoon. Andrew Berry will lead that effort, key members of his organization as well as ownership will be involved in the process. You all have been through these processes before, and I think we have a good plan laid out. I want to comment on Andrew because I know there’s questions out there – well, why didn’t you change both of them? Or why didn’t you change Andrew and not Kevin? And I would say this, I think Andrew over the last year has done a very good job, and I want to go through that because I think it’s important to talk about the moves he made to strengthen our team, okay? I think it began with what I would call a very efficient free agency. We added one player, and that player made a substantial difference in our football team and that was Maliek Collins. Maliek is not only a really good player, he’s a really good person who is a leader on our defense, a leader in the defensive line room. Andrew negotiated a trade a week or two before the draft started in which we added three draft picks, two last year, a second and a fourth or a fifth and a first this year, okay? Then I think we had one of the better drafts that we’ve ever had. I think we added four really good football players, who were either first team All-Rookie, or second team All-Rookie and I think Carson (Schwesinger) has a really good chance to be the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. I think what’s important to understand about our rookies though, and you all see them, you all know them, they’re not only really good players, they’re really good people. And they will be the cornerstone with which we’ll build and grow and develop this winning team. But I think it would be short sighted to not just look at free agency, not just look at the draft, but also to look at a couple of other moves Andrew made. We have struggled to have a consistent place kicker here, really the whole time we’ve owned the team and I guess the way we started this year, you’d say, looks like you’re continuing to struggle. Our grandsons were at the game, we were coming back to Cleveland last night, and I said, ‘Andre Szmyt is a great lesson of when you fail, pick yourself up, persevere, and good things will happen.’ And the signing of Andre and bringing him on, holding with him that first week when everybody was saying ‘You need to cut him, you need a new kicker,’ I think we’ve hopefully solved our place kicking woes for a long time. Quality person, the team believes in him and we’re glad to have him. And then lastly, I think something that’s underappreciated was the Tyson Campbell trade. Tyson is a really good player and a really good person. And I think all you need to know about Tyson is he has been playing with a bad shoulder for several weeks. We were unsure if he’s going to play, got hurt in the first half, he went in, got treatment, came back and tried to play in the second half of a game where were trying to win our fifth game – it wasn’t like were trying to make the playoffs. I think this year we not only added, and I’m repeating myself on purpose, really good players, but also really good people. And I think that core that Andrew has put together this year will help move us forward, we hope to have similar results this coming year. Let me just say this – the next 120 days are crucial for the organization, okay? We’ve got to find the right head coach, we’ve got to be efficient again in free agency, we have 10 draft picks, including two number ones, we have four of the top four picks in the top three rounds, okay? And we’ve got to get really good players who are really good people again, we’ve got to be opportunistic if trade opportunities come along. We are solely focused on having a great 120 days so we can start winning games around here. All right, I’ll take questions.”
Jimmy (Haslam), did Kevin have any chance when he came in this morning to save his job based on the fact that he’s had some really challenging quarterback situations, especially this year?
“Yeah, I don’t think those decisions are made over… I think those decisions tend to be made over a period of time. And I’ll leave the conversations we had with Kevin between us because I think he deserves that respect.”
Jimmy, will Jim Schwartz be a candidate for head coach?
“You know, we haven’t looked at that yet. I would say this, we think a lot of Jim Schwartz.”
Jimmy, less than six months ago, you gave Kevin Stefanski and Andrew very big shows of support. You said that you need to rebuild the foundation of the team. And you also said that you would give Kevin the opportunity to work with a quarterback. Obviously, five wins in your eyes, wasn’t better, wasn’t good enough. But what was the breaking point, especially given your comments?
“I don’t think there was one breaking point. I think you got to look at the body of work and sometimes it’s just time for a change. And we felt like it was time for a change.”
Did you think the roster was good enough to win more games this year?
“You know, it’s easy for me to say yes. So yeah, I think it was good enough to win more games.”
What feedback did you get from players, when you talked to them about Kevin. And how much did you weigh that into?
“We take into account a broad array of comments, thoughts, data, etcetera, when making a decision like this.”
Jimmy, how much do you think to use your words, “A swing and miss on Deshaun Watson,” affected Kevin’s ability to win and the way the offensive line and wide receivers were sort of neglected over the last six years?
“I mean, I don’t think we need to cover it again. I mean, I said it. You know, when you trade for a player and you give up three number ones and two number threes, that really depletes your ability to raise the roster. So, did it have impact? Yes.”
Jimmy, do you think the alignment between Berry and Stefanski suffered this year?
“No.”
Coach said he didn’t know you were trading Joe Flacco. How does that happen?
“Let me say this. And some of you said this is a dysfunctional building, I take huge exception to that. The two of them work just like this, okay? And they talk all the time. Their offices are basically next door to each other. I mean, is there tension in the building? Of course. I mean, this is a hard business and there’s lots of stuff going on. The two of them work together extremely well, extremely well.”
Why would the head coach be surprised that his starting quarterback is being traded?
“I can’t comment on that one thing, Tony (Grossi). But if anybody says this is dysfunctional or the two of them did not work well [together], that’s dead wrong.”
Do you feel like this organization is close enough that next year you’ll be able to turn it around or how far out are you?
“Well, let’s see what happens over the next 120 days, okay. There are a lot of examples of teams going from last to first in the NFL. So, do I think we have the core of a team? Yes. Do we have work to do in rebuilding the roster? Absolutely.”
Do you think of Shedeur as the quarterback in the future?
“I’m not going to get into specifics. We have a lot of work to do on the roster, particularly on the offensive side of the roster.”
What are you looking for in the next coach?
“I think that’s a really good question. The leadership required out of a head coach in the NFL, it’s one of the tougher leadership jobs I’ve ever seen. So, they’ve got to be a good leader. I think they’ve got to be smart in terms of IQ, EQ, and football acumen. And obviously they’re going to bring expertise on one side of the ball. We do not have bias on whether they should be from the offense or the defense.”
Do you want Schwartz to remain with the organization?
“Absolutely. Great coach.”
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