Jimmy Haslam Assures Fans That He'll Still Be Heavily Involved With the Browns

After hearing the news that Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam would be returning to his post as CEO of Pilot Flying J "because it was his first love," the reaction was fairly mellow here at Dawgs By Nature. Nonetheless, we were still curious to hear more from Haslam as to whether or not his level of involvement with the team would change moving forward. Based on everything he said to Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer on Tuesday, it won't.

Cabot scored the first phone interview with Haslam since the announcement was made, and he revealed something that I was unaware of: from August 2 until December 31 of last year, he was still fulfilling the role of CEO of Pilot Flying J. It was only on January 1, 2013 that he officially lost that title, so he's only been out of that role for a little over a month.

When speaking on his level of involvement, Haslam told Cabot, "It's not going to change at all. ... We'll be very active and very visible during training camp and we're obviously going to be there a lot during the free agency and draft periods which are obviously so important to the future of the Browns."

A day before speaking with Cabot, Haslam said he talked for an hour and a half with Browns CEO Joe Banner. "We went through where we are on all the key personnel, both coaches, players, etc." Haslam also said he will be present for when the team interviews any big-name free agents or potential first-round draft picks, and that he already has those periods of his calendar marked off.

Check out the rest of what Haslam had to say to Cabot.