Cleveland Browns assistant general manager Catherine Hickman walked into a Berea, Ohio press conference Wednesday to talk roster decisions. Instead, the internet fixated on her sweatshirt: a distressed gray crewneck reading “LOS ANGELES MADE ME DO IT” in block letters, worn just three months after the Browns sent franchise icon Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams.
The moment came during a September 2 media session in which Hickman addressed the team's decision to cut local wide receiver Luke Floriea and not bring him back to the practice squad, among other roster moves, according to Heavy Sports. The appearance quickly drew online attention, turning a routine football briefing into a viral flashpoint over front-office optics.
A Trade That Still Stings in Cleveland
The backlash cannot be separated from the deal that sent Garrett west. On June 1, the Browns traded the star pass-rusher to the Rams in exchange for 2024 first-round edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick, per therams.com. Garrett had set the NFL single-season record with 23 sacks in 2025, won his second Defensive Player of the Year award, and piled up 125.5 sacks across nine seasons in Cleveland before the trade, the same account notes. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Modell announced in 1995 that he would transfer his Cleveland franchise to Baltimore, where it would begin play in 1996.
Reaction on X made clear that fans saw Hickman's shirt as tone-deaf rather than playful. User @MikeR5577 wrote that “there's not a franchise in sports that has such little self awareness to let their assistant gm hold a press conference with that sweatshirt on,” a post that had generated 1.2 million views as of Thursday morning. Other users on X directly questioned Hickman's attire choice in the aftermath of the press conference.
Roster Talk Buried by the Wardrobe Moment
Beyond the sweatshirt, Hickman used the session to outline the Browns' broader team-building philosophy. She noted that Cleveland enters the 2026 season with the second-youngest roster in the NFL by average age, framing it as evidence of an organization committed to draft development and player retention, according to a video posted to Facebook from the press conference.
She also fielded questions about the Browns' quarterback situation, where embattled veteran Deshaun Watson is currently slated to start over rookie Shedeur Sanders, who has yet to show he is a franchise cornerstone. Hickman said the team's decision-making approach at quarterback is no different than at any other position, adding, “Everything we do is to win football games, that's how we make our decisions, that's how we think about it as an organization.” Cleveland is expected to be one of the worst teams in the 2026 NFL season, a dynamic that has fueled speculation the Browns could be positioned to draft a player like Arch Manning, Jeremiah Smith or Dante Moore if another losing campaign follows.
One of the NFL's Most Notable Executives
The controversy is a strange footnote for an executive with an unusually decorated résumé. Hickman, a Montreal native, is Cleveland's assistant general manager and vice president of football operations, and she reportedly became the first woman to interview for an NFL general manager position, having reportedly interviewed for the Minnesota Vikings' GM job in 2022 before joining the Browns that same year, according to the New York Post. She has never worked for the Los Angeles Rams or Los Angeles Chargers, making the sweatshirt's message more of an inside joke than a personal history lesson.
Before Cleveland, Hickman spent four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and became the first female assistant GM in Canadian Football League history with the Montreal Alouettes in 2017, according to Sportsnet.ca. In January 2025, the Tennessee Titans received permission to interview her for their open general manager job after Ran Carthon's departure.
Her path into football operations traces back to a corporate law career. Hickman earned a law degree and a master's degree in tax law from the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, practicing business law in Montreal before moving into sports administration with the Alouettes in 2015, per the university's own account. She has also participated four times, most recently in December 2024, in the NFL's Front Office & General Manager Accelerator Program, a league initiative built to develop front-office candidates from underrepresented backgrounds, according to the Cleveland Browns. ESPN reported that women made up an all-time-high 41.3% of the NFL league office in 2022, up 2.5 percentage points from 38.8%.
Front Office Under Pressure
The sweatshirt episode lands amid a broader stretch of scrutiny for Cleveland's front office. The Browns hired former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken as head coach on January 28, 2026, following a 5-12 season, a move Hoodline covered at the time. Fan frustration over the Garrett trade has only compounded since, with the team's decision to send him to Los Angeles for draft capital and Verse still a sore subject entering the new season.
The sweatshirt drew attention beyond the press conference. Whether Hickman intended the shirt as self-deprecating humor about the trade or simply an offhand fashion pick, the moment has, for now, overshadowed her substantive comments on roster construction and the Browns' quarterback plans heading into the season.
