BEREA ― It’s a training camp tradition for the Browns. It’s typically the one time during the season that owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam hold court with the media.
The events of the last seventh months, including the firing and hiring of a head coach and the groundbreaking on a new stadium, has increased the number of times at least one of them has spoken to the media. However, the third day of training camp marked the time for the Haslams to once again hold their annual availability.
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There was a slight change-up to the routine this time, as Jimmy Haslam was joined by his son-in-law, managing partney JW Johnson instead of his wife Dee. That didn’t change the variety of topics they faced.
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Here’s some takeaways at what Haslam and Johnson had to say at training camp;
There’s a clear question about who the Browns’ quarterback will be. There’s the need to see what kind of steps forward the 2025 rookie class will take, and how the 2026 rookies will step into the NFL.
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So it’s understandable that even Haslam and Johnson were going to attempt to continue what has been a fairly consistent refrain if you’ve been listening to Haslam in particular. It’s going to be a process, although he doesn’t think the timeline in any way stretches to the 2029 scheduled opening of the new stadium.
“I mean, we want to be a contending playoff team in ’27,” Haslam said. “OK? That doesn’t mean we can’t make it in ’26, but the stadium does not come into play at all.”
That said, Haslam did veer away from what was the conversation coming into 2025 after going 3-14 in 2024. At that point, he merely said improving on the previous year.
This time, Haslam was pretty blunt in terms of a win total.
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“I would say this,” Haslam said, “and we never do this, but I think the odds are for us to win 5.5 games. I’ll take the over.”
The quarterback competition is continuing on for the foreseeable future between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. The competition extends to the fans, with Watson’s struggles in performance and injury avoidance ― as well as the off-the-field issues he brought with him from Houston ― leading a large segment of the Browns fanbase having no desire to see him on the field again.
Meanwhile, Sanders has brought with him a large and very vocal contingent as the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. If it was up to a fan vote, he’d be the runaway winner.
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It’s not that ownership doesn’t acknowledge that reality. It’s that they believe whoever wins the job will win the fans by winning games.
“Look, I think everyone’s a fan of each guy,” Johnson said. “Some guys like Deshaun; a lot of people don’t. Some guys like Shedeur; maybe some people don’t. It really doesn’t matter, and those guys don’t care about it. Both like I said earlier, those guys have been here working hard. All they want to do is win. They want to help this team out. They know our success on the field is paramount for the team and for our fans and this organization and for this city. … But we feel comfortable about those guys. Whoever wins the job, we’re going to support him. We hope the fans support him. And the best thing they can do is play well and win football games and that’ll change the narrative.”
The Browns pulled off the most seismic trade of the NFL offseason on June 1 when they sent future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles. What they got in return was a talented 25-year-old defensive end in Jared Verse plus a 2027 first-, 2028 second- and 2029 third-round pick.
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Haslam had said in March at the owners meeting that Garrett was a ‘unicorn’ and an ‘integral part of what we do at the Cleveland Browns.’ Turns out, it was true only until the Rams made an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“Well, one, I think he got a really good player back,” Haslam said. “And I think you saw him today, a really good player who’s 25 years old and still on his rookie contract. So that’s the biggest reason. And then we picked up a one, a two and a three. And I think we all realized that three years we didn’t have No. 1 picks due to the Deshaun trade. And one of those years we didn’t even have a second. And the value of those picks, as we’ve proved the last two years, are tremendous.
“So Myles is an unbelievable player. I mean, I was thinking the other night, Jim Brown, Joe Thomas, Myles Garrett, they are first ballot Hall of Famers, world-class people. So it was not an easy decision, but we’ve made it and we’re moving on and excited about Jared and excited about those three draft picks.”
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Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at http://www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Takeaways from Jimmy Haslam, JW Johnson at Browns training camp
