Hue Jackson’s sit-down interview on Thursday with Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer was full of entertaining tidbits. It was fun to count many people Jackson blamed without taking any of the responsibility for his 3-36-1 record with the Browns.

One of the most startling claims was that he really wanted to draft Carson Wentz with the second overall pick of the 2016 draft. We’ve never heard Jackson say that before. The Browns traded that pick and Wentz became a superstar with the Philadelphia Eagles. Just look at how emphatic Jackson says he was about wanting Wentz a couple years ago:

“Oh my gosh, yes. Did I like Carson Wentz? Hell yes,” Jackson told Cabot. “He did something that no other quarterback did. I give them three minutes to memorize the book and put on the [white] board. He put it all on the board in two minutes and 48 seconds. I’ve never had a guy do that ever in my coaching career.

“But the plan was never to take a quarterback that year. It was all about trading back to get picks. If you’re doing that you’ve got to pick the right players.”

View photos Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson says he wanted Carson Wentz, but that might not be accurate. (AP) More

That sounds like Jackson was right all along about Wentz. Except that in 2016, that’s not what Jackson was saying.

Hue Jackson wasn’t sold on Carson Wentz as second pick

A quick background: Jackson and Mike Silver of NFL Media are tight. Silver is quite open about his friendship with Jackson. At one point his Twitter avatar was a photo of him and the then-Browns coach.

So there’s no reason to believe that Jackson wasn’t being forthcoming with Silver in 2016. Here’s what Jackson was saying about Wentz back then (h/t to the Big Lead):

I talked to Hue Jackson about Wentz many, many times pre-draft. Jackson never disparaged his ability. Thought 2 was too high to take him. — Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) September 6, 2016





That’s a lot different tune than Jackson being all “hell yes” about Wentz as a future star.

It’s not uncommon for a coach or GM to revise history and say they wanted to draft this or that player but mysterious circumstances kept them from doing it. But when Jackson’s whole platform is that he wasn’t given good enough players as he’s handing off blame, it’s pretty remarkable to see him revising history.

Jackson didn’t seem sold on Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson either

That wasn’t all. Jackson also lamented on Thursday that the Browns passed on Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes in 2017. They could have drafted either with the first pick, but they opted for pass rusher Myles Garrett. They traded the pick the Texans used on Watson, after Mahomes was off the board.

“You can’t pass on quarterbacks,” Jackson said Thursday. “You never pass on a potential franchise quarterback because you don’t know who’s going to be there in the future.”

But, again, in 2017 he was not saying that. Here’s a passage from Silver’s story inside the Browns’ draft room that year:

“Garrett, in Jackson’s eyes, was the difference maker the defense desperately needed,” Silver wrote. “And while he saw positive attributes in each of the quarterbacks regarded as the top three draft prospects — Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and [MItchell] Trubisky — Jackson didn’t believe any of them would make nearly as big an impact.”

It’s just worth a reminder that as Jackson explains all the reasons he failed that have nothing to do with himself, he seems to have a fuzzy memory.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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