Joe Thomas: Hue wants Joe Thomas back with Browns

CBS Sports Insider Jason La Canfora has reported that the team is finalizing a deal with Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson.

Jackson was scheduled to fly to New York on Wednesday for an interview with the New York Giants. The Browns requested another sit-down Tuesday and made the offer Wednesday.

He takes over a team that ended this season 3 and 11.

The 50-year-old Jackson has earned a reputation for being an offensive innovator as well as being tough but fair with his players.

Jackson’s interview schedule and whereabouts had generated an amount of post-Black Monday buzz second only to ex-Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase, who became the first candidate off the board when he was hired by the Dolphins on Saturday. Jackson, who waited four years for his second crack at leading an National Football League team, has been hired as Cleveland’s next coach, the struggling franchise’s eighth since 1999 and sixth since 2008.

Jackson, who was on the short list of almost every team with a coaching vacancy this off-season, set the tone for the Bengals’ season with his cryptic preseason proclamation that Cincinnati would “open Pandora’s box more” on offense and then backed that metaphor up with a high-scoring 8-0 start and an eventual division title.

“I am going to have the opportunity to work with some of the smartest men in football (in Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta)”, Jackson said. Since Haslam bought the team in 2012, the Browns have gone through three coaches.

Jackson said he’s confident he can turn around the floundering franchise even though no one else has been able. To end this season, the Browns fired general manager Ray Farmer and head coach Mike Pettine, with Pettine getting only two seasons to right a ship that was downright bad before him and being stuck with a general manager that seemed to sabotage everything.

With a new coach in house, Browns fans wanna know, what is Jackson going to do about Johnny?

With the Manziel era seemingly over before it began, the Browns will once again be searching for a quarterback, which has become something of an annual occurrence in Cleveland.

Hue Jackson feels that he attracts so many around him because he pushes his peers to be the best they can be.

But with losing season in the books the Browns are making changes, starting with a new coach.

What this means isn’t totally clear and could be affected by the Jackson situation if San Francisco was aiming high for his services.

“Having the No. 2 pick is great – and sometimes it’s not”, Jackson said. For now, that’s Jackson, who has spent 15 seasons coaching in the National Football League, establishing himself as one of the profession’s rising stars.

Jackson replaces Pettine, fired after going 10-22.

But one of the spoons that had been agitating the stew was omitted from the gathering to introduce Hue Jackson. According to multiple reports, that may lead directly to another big move: cutting Johnny Manziel.

The Sacramento Bee speculated on Wednesday that Jackson might even be interested in bringing 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to the Browns.