Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam thanked fans for their passion and loyalty throughout the team's trying 1-15 season, which came to a close Sunday.
"Clearly, this season has been a painful part of our building process," the Haslams wrote. "You deserve the best, and you certainly deserve better than a 1-15 team. We are sorry that our results have not been better."
At a press conference Monday, coach Hue Jackson, executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta delivered a similar message to the loyal fans who played a big part in the team finally securing its first win Week 16 against the Chargers.
"I really truly appreciate our fans, their support, them being there and doing everything they can to help rally our football team," Jackson said. "I can take you back to that San Diego game where they were. It seemed like the stadium was full because they were yelling and screaming and giving us the opportunity to win, and what a great feeling that was."
While lamenting what Jimmy Haslam described Sunday as an "unacceptable" season, the owners endorsed the progress made by the team's top football leaders who are "working extremely well together, all with the sole interest of creating a consistent winning football team for you, the fans."
"While we obviously did not accomplish that this season, our confidence in our leadership's character, attitude, approach and ability remains strong as we faced this year's challenges," Haslam said.
Below is the full letter from the Haslams.
With the close of the 2016 season, we wanted to thank you again for all of your support and apologize for such a disappointing year.
We greatly appreciate the tremendous passion and loyalty of Browns fans, and it is a difficult season like this that shows how truly fortunate we are to have such support. We fully recognize how tough this season has been for you, and we want to let you know it has been equally hard for us. We are extremely grateful for your support and do not take it for granted.
Clearly, this season has been a painful part of our building process. You deserve the best, and you certainly deserve better than a 1-15 team. We are sorry that our results have not been better.
Immediately following last season, we communicated our commitment to bringing in strong, smart leaders with high character, who would be relentlessly driven to improve our football team and look at every resource possible. We continue to feel very good about the leaders we have in place – Coach Hue Jackson, Sashi Brown, and Paul DePodesta – and how they have approached their individual roles, while working extremely well together, all with the sole interest of creating a consistent winning football team for you, the fans. While we obviously did not accomplish that this season, our confidence in our leadership's character, attitude, approach and ability remains strong as we faced this year's challenges.
We understand the critical nature of this upcoming offseason as we continue to improve our roster. Our personnel group has positioned us very well to add quality players through multiple high draft picks while maintaining salary cap flexibility and the ability to sign and retain our core nucleus of players.
We remain committed and determined to rewarding you with the consistent winning team you deserve. We will continue to do all we can to reach that goal.
Thank you for your support.
Dee and Jimmy Haslam
