Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam said last year's 1-15 campaign was "harder than we thought" and added no one on the team is "exactly sure what'll happen this year," according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The Browns last season were in the first year of a rebuild under new front-office leadership, and Haslam said of '17, "I know we'll be a better team. So I think 2018 -- and I'm not hedging my bets -- 2018, 2019 you should see a substantially better football team." Haslam indicated he will be "patient with his new front office and coaching staff this year." Haslam "admitted that his rocky start as an owner, characterized by early multiple firings, has been difficult." Haslam: "All of us want to win and win immediately. ... But I'm an extremely impatient person. But I think we've learned the hard way if you want to do this and do it right, building through the draft and being patient and getting the right people in place is the right way to do it. So it's hard, but it's unequivocally the right thing to do." Asked if he could feel fans' pain after buying the team midway through '12, Haslam said, "No, we had no clue. [Browns co-Owner Dee Haslam] and I had no clue. Do we realize it and share in that pain now? Absolutely. I think Dee says this as well or better than I do; we share in that pain and share in the responsibility for helping to erase that pain." Assessing his ownership of the team thus-far, he said, "The learning curve has been extremely steep. ... I've said it's embarrassing. ... I now think we're positioned to put the organization, the team in a much better place than we've been" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 7/30).
PATH TO SUCCESS: In Akron, Nate Ulrich wrote Haslam should "finally be committed to continuity, not only because it's often the best path to sustained success in the NFL, but also because he signed up for a unique approach when he assembled his front office." Haslam will "finally need to practice what he preaches about continuity" for coach Hue Jackson to get a "fair shake." Giving continuity a chance is the "next change he needs to make" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 7/30).
