Episode Premieres Tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME®
NEW YORK (September 25, 2013) – Pro Football Hall of Famer and Cleveland Browns legend Jim Brown joins INSIDE THE NFL tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME. Brown joins host James Brown and analysts, All-Pro greats Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth to reveal that former Cleveland Brown’s President Mike Holmgren is the reason he left the Browns organization for three years. Brown also shares his thoughts on the Trent Richardson trade and how the NFL Players Union should protect the players for life after football.
Now in its 36th season on television, INSIDE THE NFL will feature a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a guest analyst each week. New episodes premiere every Wednesday night on SHOWTIME through February 5, 2014.
INSIDE THE NFL covers every game, every week, with trademark highlights from NFL Films, special, in-depth features and spirited debate on the hottest topics in the league.
INSIDE THE NFL is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films. The executive producers are Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports, Ross Ketover and Pat Kelleher of NFL Films. Pete Radovich Jr., the Emmy Award-winning Creative Director for CBS Sports, serves as coordinating producer.
Following are excerpts from this week’s episode:
Jim Brown On Why He Took a Three-Year Break From the Cleveland Browns…
JIM BROWN: Mike Holmgren… Well, Mike is not from Cleveland. I’m a Cleveland Brown. So he gave me a choice of taking three dollars and doing a little dancing for him out there. I said, ‘Mr. Holmgren I’m sorry…I don’t dance…become a mascot type of guy’…And I cracked up but I wrote him a letter. And I stated those things and I had a little humor with it because I knew ultimately I would probably be back because Cleveland is my home. I have great roots there and I love the people and the people love me.
Clarification on the Mike Holmgren Situation…
JIM BROWN: They were going to clean house. And he had all his boys that were going to come in and take advantage of the kind of money that he could pay his guys. And never really be there. He took advantage of Randy (Lerner) and it was just a shame. Randy’s a good guy. Young owner. Wanted someone to take the pressure off of him. Mike came in, saw the weakness, and took advantage of it.
On Trent Richardson’s Trade…
JIM BROWN: Well, I was surprised. But then I thought it was a brilliant move….Because first of all, Trent (Richardson) couldn’t have carried the kind of load that Cleveland needed. But with Andrew Luck, Andrew won’t need as much. And the two of them can really do a lot for their team. And Cleveland with their draft choices, I think they were going to look at a quarterback. But now with the youngster playing the way he played last week, it might change a little bit. But I think with the first draft choices they can get in some really good players. And they have a young team and of course we had a great victory utilizing the kind of imagination that made the trade. That imagination is exciting because Cleveland is really popping right now…
I called Trent Richardson because he’s a friend of mine. As you say, when a player leaves, it can leave a bad smell in the locker room. But the great thing is that Jim Haslam also called him (Richardson) and Jim is the owner of the Browns, so there’s a touch of class in that organization. They make the moves. They’re going to make the bold moves… You’re never going to be able to rest because Joe Banner is going to like to deal. He dealt in Philadelphia.
On What The NFLPA Should Do For The Players…
JIM BROWN: Two things: health care forever. The owners had it on the table. The union refused it to get ready money. So they could give it to their crony consultants. The second thing is a dignified pension plan. We have the worst pension plan of any major corporation in America. So if you take your body of players and you’re going to do something for them, health care forever and a dignified pension plan.
COLLINSWORTH: Amen. Honestly, let’s say that they said, ‘Forget all the older players. Forget everybody that’s ever played the game. We’re only going to do this for the current players.’ It would still be the right thing to do. Take 25-30% of the total salary cap and put it in pension. They don’t need the money now. They need the money down the road because they’re going to be out of work at age 30 and they’re going to need money to go to McDonald’s. There are guys that are so broke they can’t go to McDonald’s to eat. And that’s not right.
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