National Football League

Browns coach Pettine reveals team turned down 'Hard Knocks'

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:36 p.m. ET

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Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine has confirmed that the team turned down the opportunity to be featured on this summer's edition of "Hard Knocks" on HBO, thus robbing football fans of even more Johnny Manziel coverage.

"It was for the same reason we didn't feel super comfortable having a camera in the draft room," Pettine told The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. "Let's get through the first time, let's get through the first year."

Because Pettine is a first-year head coach, the Browns had the right to reject the offer.

Pettine noted that the request came prior to the NFL Draft, when the Browns selected Manziel with the 22nd overall pick.

"There are positives and negatives to doing it," Pettine, who participated in the show when he was a member of the New York Jets coaching staff, told The Plain Dealer. "It's not something I would say we'd never do, partly because the league can make us do it."