Save the grades on Browns’ draft, but give new GM Andrew Berry an A

Editor’s note: Tony Grossi is an analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.

Instant analysis after the NFL draft is over usually consists of letter grades or “winners and losers.”

Let’s cut to the chase and call Andrew Berry the winner of the Browns draft. And give him an A.

They say you can’t grade an NFL draft for three years. That may be true about the players selected. But you can grade Berry’s performance instantly.

The youngest general manager in NFL history, Berry, 33, distinguished himself with logical thinking, patience, composure, smart selections and the earnest collaboration his bosses have been seeking for years.

Confidence in Berry prior to the draft was muted because of his lack of experience as a picker of players and his past association with terrible Browns drafts in 2016 and 2017 conducted in an analytics vacuum by Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta. When was all said and done, Berry’s first Browns draft in charge allayed fears of repeating that history.

“I was really impressed with how Andrew was able to navigate these last three days because it can be stressful, as you can all imagine,” said coach Kevin Stefanski. “It is more stressful than game day, I told him. I think he did a great job. I think he is built for this. He has the right demeanor. He has the right amount of intelligence.

“I was very impressed with how he operated. He knew when to have everybody be very quiet, and he knew when to take in input. He looked like a seasoned vet to me.”

Sanity prevailed

Here are some things I liked about Berry’s first Browns draft:

1.Berry didn’t do anything crazy in the first round. He listened to his coaches, particularly Stefanski and line coach Bill Callahan, stood pat at No. 10 and chose the team’s No. 1-ranked offensive tackle, Jedrick Wills of Alabama. Concerns about Wills moving to the left side were alleviated in conversations with Alabama coach Nick Saban and Callahan, who presided over a comparable transition of Tyron Smith of the Cowboys.

2.Rather than adhere to the lazy “best player available” bromide, Berry addressed Browns team needs with athletic, big-time players from major college programs – Wills from Alabama, rangy safety Grant Delpit from LSU, penetrating defensive tackle Jordan Elliott from Missouri, tackling machine linebacker Jacob Phillips from LSU. There was a minimal trade-down to start Day 2 -- only three spots that netted a fifth-round pick from the Colts -- a calculated, low-risk move because only two safeties had been taken at that point.

3.On Day 3, Berry relied on the scouts he inherited from fired GM John Dorsey – and not SPARQ scores -- to provide Stefanski scheme fits at tight end and developmental center. Tight end Harrison Bryant of Florida Atlantic had an impressive showing in the Senior Bowl week before Berry and Stefanski had even been hired. Center Nick Harris of Washington was a Senior Bowl participant, too. Neither scored high in the tests and measurements that influence the analytics mavens, but they adhered to the “smart, tough, accountable” protocol of Berry and Stefanski.

4.The final pick of Michigan receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones, which could be viewed as an analytics-favored choice, was a low-risk, high-reward no-brainer in the sixth round. You’ve got to believe that conversation with former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who recruited the athletically-gifted Peoples-Jones, a five-star recruit from Detroit, and understood the challenges Peoples-Jones faced in the underperforming Michigan football program, contributed to this pick.

5.Not a single player of the seven had a known character issue on his college record.

6.Without doing anything rash, Berry was able to add a third-round pick from the Saints to the 2021 Browns’ draft arsenal that included extra selections in the fourth-, fifth- and seventh-rounds from previous Dorsey trades.

Best of both worlds

Berry’s Harvard education with a master’s in computer science is a blessing and a curse. It surely attracted him to DePodesta, another Harvard grad and the famous baseball Moneyball guru. They speak the same language. But that background also made Berry a suspicious candidate to pick football players in the minds of fans.

The truth is, Berry is a football guy at heart. He played quarterback for Bel Air (MD) High School and then started four years at cornerback at Harvard, making All-Ivy League three times.

At the last Super Bowl, 49ers fullback and Harvard grad Kyle Juszczyk told me that Berry “was an absolute legend” in the Harvard football program for his football ability and mental acumen.

When Berry’s playing career ended, he was hired by the Colts as a scouting assistant at the age of 22. Bill Polian, the Colts president at the time and the ultimate old-school football dinosaur, old enough to be Berry’s grandfather, said Berry “was a star when he walked into the building, a rising star. And a guy I did predict 4-5 years ago would become a general manager soon.”

Berry returned to the Browns after a one-year tutorial under Eagles GM Howie Roseman in Philadelphia under less-than-ideal circumstances.

He was replacing Dorsey, an NFL lifer who only a year earlier was the toast of the town for injecting the franchise with loads of football talent. He wasn't hired until after all the college all-star games that kick-off the draft season were over. And he was immediately saddled with the logistical challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Berry caught up fast, and he proved perfectly adept to handle the technological multi-tasks required throughout this strange draft season, culminating in a unique virtual draft.

But the question always was: Could he pick the right players?

That answer realistically won’t come for two or three years. That’s when the final grades of Berry’s first draft will be posted. For now, everyone can breathe easier. Berry aced his first test as a general manager. Which is what you’d expect from a football player from Harvard.