On Monday, March 31st, the yearly NFL owners’ meetings took place. During the meetings, Kevin Stefanski, Andrew Berry, and Jimmy Haslam, the biggest names in the Cleveland Browns organization, spoke to the media. While there were multiple nuggets of information given during these interviews, one point stuck out to Browns fans the most: Jimmy Haslam calling the Deshaun Watson a “Swing and a miss,” effectively ending the Deshaun Watson era in Cleveland. While this is all fine and dandy, and I am glad that Haslam is holding himself responsible for the disaster that was the Deshaun Watson trade, I have to ask, when will it end? When will Jimmy Haslam stop failing the fan base of the team he owns?

I am fed up with the constant blunders of what is the most popular team of the fine city of Cleveland, the Cleveland Browns. Jimmy Haslam, while being more than willing to spend money on the team, continues to do so in the worst places possible. In my mind, it all starts with the drafting of Johnny Manziel. Johnny, a star quarterback in college, had red flags surrounding him his entire time in college. The well-documented partying, under-the-table money, skipping practice, and so on, was all knowledge that NFL teams knew at the time of the 2014 NFL Draft, the year Johnny was in the draft pool. Haslam and co. at the time, ignored all of that to buy into the hype of a quarterback prospect that most all knew was not going to workout, but of course Jimmy had to force the hand, and Johnny was out of the league by 2016.

But wait, it gets worse! Haslam, trying to shake the mistakes of his past, consistently hiring an firing coaches and general managers, decided to buckle down with Hue Jackson. For those who don’t know, Hue Jackson went 1-15 as the Browns head coach, promised the fans he’d jump into lake erie during the winter if the Browns lost that many games again, and then proceeded to go 0-16. The Browns (Jimmy Haslam) kept Hue after this, ultimately firing him in 2018 after going 2-5-1. The players didn’t like Hue; his fellow coaches on his staff didn’t like Hue; the fans didn’t like Hue; his tenure with the Browns is the definition of an overstayed welcome.

I bring up the past to push the point of when will it end? When will Jimmy Haslam stop meddling in football operations and let the people he hired take care of the job they were hired to do? It doesn’t seem like it will be soon, as Jimmy has been present in all of the visits of top draft prospects, specifically quarterbacks, during the 2025 draft season. Look, Jimmy has done better, I’d be in the wong not to mention that. He stayed hands-off when the Myles Garrett trade request debacle went down, refusing to meet with Myles, and in the same press conference that inspired this article, stated the Browns will not force a solution at the quarterback position and will do everything in their (his) power to get the position correct. However, the proof is always in the pudding, and the pudding of Jimmy Haslam is filled with meddling, failure, and lack of anything that gives me confidence in his leadership. Let’s just hope this new chapter following the Deshaun Watson era for the Browns is filled with reason to have hope and not more of the past.