Browns deny claim Hue Jackson, anybody else was paid to 'tank'

In the potentially NFL-shifting class action lawsuit filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores on Tuesday, Flores alleges Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered the 40-year-old $100,000 for each loss so Miami would "tank" during the 2019 season to better the team's position in the subsequent draft order. 

As Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal explained, former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson was in headlines Wednesday when a Twitter account supposedly belonging to Jackson and Kimberly Diemert, the executive director of the Hue Jackson Foundation, made similar claims about Jackson's time in Cleveland. 

The Browns infamously went 1-31 under Jackson over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, which happens to be when Diemert alleges Jackson, Browns former head of football operations Sashi Brown, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and general manager Andrew Berry all received money from team owner Jimmy Haslam to lose on purpose for draft purposes and to sign release and non-disclosure agreements. 

Later in the day, the Browns denied those allegations. 

"The recent comments by Hue Jackson and his representatives relating to his tenure as our head coach are completely fabricated," A Browns spokesperson said. "Any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false." 

While the NFL and Dolphins previously denied claims found in Flores' lawsuit, Diemert told the Akron Beacon Journal she has proof. 

"If anybody wants to verify whether or not those are my statements, they are absolutely my statements," Diemert said. "I stand behind them. They are verifiable. They are indisputable. If the Cleveland Browns organization or the NFL want to dispute them, tell them bring it on. It's there." 

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote the Dolphins and Browns owners could be prosecuted for violating the Sports Bribery Act if there is merit behind the claims that have surfaced this week.