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The Cleveland Browns stole the NFL headlines on Friday as they introduced Deshaun Watson during a press conference. The team's new quarterback was joined by head coach Kevin Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry. Noticeably absent were team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam.
The two did appear on a Zoom call after the initial press conference, but of course, that meant they were not in the building.
The Haslams have a history of poor decision-making, and plenty of fans are upset with the decision to not only bring in Watson, but to hand him a $230 million guaranteed deal. And for some, the worst part of all of this was that they did not even show their faces in person to answer for the move.
ESPN's Mina Kimes shared a few tweets discussing this. She also stated that her main problem is the way the team is handling the Watson signing.
"My issue here is not with his innocence or guilt. It’s with how the entire Browns organization is handling this—obfuscating, deflecting, etc.—and the message it’s sending."
This was her initial point. She went on to just be totally baffled by the Haslams' decision to skip the press conference.
"Along those lines...this is a joke," - Mina Kimes via Twitter
Instead, Berry and Stefanski were left to answer for and represent the entire organization.
Cleveland Browns ownership has a questionable track record
Over the past decade, the Haslams have become infamous for hiring and firing coaches and executives at a rapid rate. They also made the call to draft Johnny Manziel and retain Hue Jackson after a 1-31 stretch. Now, they have acquired Watson.
To their credit, Berry and Stefanski answered every tough question thrown their way. They represented the franchise with respect and were calm and understanding about the media's concerns. Yet both could be fired at any moment.
Kime's point echoes a lot of media discussion about the two owners. They made a controversial decision and decided to show up only on Zoom to arguably the most important press conference of their ownership.
The optics of this move are bad and even comical, according to Kimes. Having a prominent NFL reporter saying this may only draw further negative attention towards the franchise on a day when they were trying to spin everything into a positive.
