An investigation into alleged tanking while Hue Jackson was head coach of the Cleveland Browns reached its conclusion today.
In an official statement, the NFL found that Jackson’s allegations that the Browns tanked during his tenure “could not be substantiated.” The league’s investigative team spoke to everyone involved in the allegations except Jackson himself during the process.
But ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter framed the finding as the NFL determining that the Browns did not tank games. He did not specify that it was mere inconclusive one way or another.
Many NFL fans have taken to Schefter’s comments to point out this important distinction. Others pointed to the absurdity of the NFL investigating itself and finding no wrongdoing.
Actually this press release says the league’s investigation couldn’t prove that the Browns did tank, not that it proved they didn’t. That’s a big difference! https://t.co/RXSmCelnpI
— Kate Feldman (@kateefeldman) May 2, 2022
The press release quoted here plainly says that an NFL-funded investigation couldn’t substantiate claims that an NFL team tanked games; the difference between this and the investigation finding the team didn’t tank is like that between the sun and Saturn https://t.co/Hn4MpnW8co
— Tim Marchman (@timmarchman) May 2, 2022
“We have investigated ourselves and found that we have not done anything wrong” https://t.co/4fciYEHRaG
— …. (@djack0813) May 2, 2022
So the NFL investigated the NFL tanking games?!? No shock they didn’t find anything https://t.co/Sm3VYtC7LC
— Sargent Slump (@KillaDadBod) May 2, 2022
Some fans decided to have some fun at the Browns’ expense:
An independent review also concluded that at the time the Browns being one of the worst franchises in the NFL was a factor in their constant losing https://t.co/nAu14c0WAf
— Peyton Sawyer (@RedGundamRanger) May 2, 2022
It was always going to be a tough task for Hue Jackson to prove the Cleveland Browns had him tank games unless he had documented evidence of such. It appeared early in the process that Jackson might have such evidence, but whatever he had, it wasn’t enough.
Now all eyes turn to Brian Flores and the ongoing lawsuit he has against the NFL.
The league is no doubt investigating those claims against the Miami Dolphins and the other teams he’s suing. Perhaps the findings will be different on his end.
What do you make of the findings in the Hue Jackson investigation?
The post Hue Jackson Investigation Concludes: NFL World Reacts appeared first on The Spun.
Leave a Reply