NFL opens investigation into Cleveland Browns tanking allegations

The Cleveland Browns are currently under investigation from the NFL after allegations the team deliberately threw games in 2016 and 2017.

As reported by Sports Illustrated, the league confirmed in a statement that an investigation is underway into claims that the Browns provided incentives to former coach Hue Jackson to lose games during the 2016 and ’17 seasons.

The Browns finished with 1-15 record in 2016 and 0-16 the following year.

Jackson told SI: “Two years ago I tried to do this the right way, through the bylaws and constitution of the National Football League, to ask them to investigate the Cleveland Browns for all the allegations that I’ve made. So why open an investigation now?”

A spokesperson for the Browns sent a statement that read: “Even though Hue recanted his allegations a short time after they were made, it was important to us and to the integrity of the game to have an independent review of the allegations.

“We welcomed an investigation and we are confident the results will show, as we’ve previously stated, that these allegations are categorically false. We have fully cooperated with Mary Jo White and look forward to the findings.”

You can certainly argue that the method worked for the Browns in the long run, as those bad seasons allowed them to draft the likes of Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Myles Garrett, David Njoku and Denzel Ward, all players that helped turn the Browns from the bottom-feeders of the league to being somewhat more competitive in recent seasons, even reaching the playoffs back in 2020.

However now that we discover it could have been done through somewhat immoral methods means that the whole thing takes on a different image than before. 

The Browns are not the first team to find