Andrew Berry is sitting out the first round of the draft on Thursday night, but he'll be watching Carolina's action with the No. 6 pick. (TheLandOnDemand)
Browns sitting out first round on Thursday night, but will be interested bystanders to see what Carolina does
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Andrew Berry pre-draft presser …
While Kevin Stefanski is glad to preside over a normal offseason program for the first time in his three yeas as Browns coach, Andrew Berry is approaching a “first” of another kind.
For the first time as Browns’ GM, Berry doesn’t have a first-round pick this year -- or 2023, or 2024 -- because of the mega-deal for quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Further, the Browns also tossed in a fourth-round pick this year, a third-rounder in 2023, and another fourth-rounder in 2024 to the Houston Texans in the biggest trade of the NFL transaction season. Berry doesn’t have the draft capital to move much from No. 44 overall on Friday evening.
The Browns, in fact, have told media their media room will not be open on Thursday night, ostensibly because they don’t expect to participate and won’t have anything to say about the first round. They are one of eight teams without a first-round pick this year.
“I would never rule out anything,” Berry said. “I would say just candidly I think it is unlikely, but I do not want to say anything in absolutes because you just never know how situations arise. Quite honestly, I would not have expected us to move up last year. We have to be flexible with the situation.”
Well, it’s tough to be flexible when you’ve mortgaged three first-round picks for a player who might start the season under NFL suspension.
“I think if you look through our draft history over the past two years, we have gone up and back. I think it probably more speaks to our flexibility within the moment. Volume is always a good thing. Candidly, that is something that is in area that we will probably always skew a bit more heavily as opposed to moving up, but I would not eliminate either direction.”
The Watson trade was out of character for Berry’s regime for a number of reasons, one of which is he and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta have generally favored adding draft picks than subtracting them.
So exactly why did they mortgage so much draft capital for Watson?
“We have talked a lot about how important we think the quarterback position is and making sure that you have great performance at that spot for sustainable success and sustainable winning,” Berry said. “Players at that spot and players at other premium spots, you will see us get creative for potentially acquiring.”
Unless something changes, the Browns’ picks in the weekend draft are: 44th (second round), 78th and 99th (third round), 118th (fourth round), 202nd (sixth round), 223rd and 246th (seventh round).
Eye on the Panthers
The Browns should be very interested bystanders on Thursday night, particularly to see what the Carolina Panthers do with the sixth overall pick.
If the Panthers use the No. 6 pick on a non-quarterback, it’s very likely discussions could intensify for a trade for Baker Mayfield.
The Panthers don’t have another pick until No. 137 in the fourth round, so they’re not going to be able to add to Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker on their quarterback depth chart via the draft.
Yes, their only quarterbacks are Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker.
They struck out in 2021 making a trade pitch for Matthew Stafford and this year for Watson.
Even if the Panthers use their sixth pick on Kenny Pickett or Malik Willis or Desmond Ridder or Matt Corral – the draft’s top-rated QBs – none is going to win more games for under-fire coach Matt Rhule in 2022 than Mayfield.
Nevertheless, Berry declined to answer questions about the Mayfield impasse, how much of Mayfield’s $18.858 million guaranteed salary the Browns would be willing to eat to facilitate a trade, and what’s Plan B if the draft weekend passes without a trade of Mayfield.
“Quite honestly, anything regarding kind of speculation on the future or several months out, that is probably unfair because we realize that circumstances in the NFL change,” Berry said. “Quite honestly, my focus has been on the draft next week because we are inside of a week. All of those kind of larger roster issues are things that may surface over the next five, six or seven months, and I will shift my focus after [the draft].”
Five, six or seven months? Egads.
The Seattle Seahawks are the other team most linked to Mayfield.
The Seahawks head into draft weekend with a QB depth chart of Drew Lock, Geno Smith and Jacob Eason. They own the ninth overall pick, but unlike the Panthers, the Seahawks have two picks in Round 2 (40th and 41st) and the 72nd pick in Round 3.
The Seahawks conceivably can pass on a quarterback in Round 1 and come back and take one in Round 2.
Whither D’Ernest
Browns restricted free agent D’Ernest Johnson did not receive an offer sheet from another team by Friday’s deadline, and now things can get interesting.
The Browns gave Johnson the minimum contract tender for $2.43 million to protect their right of first refusal. The tender is not guaranteed and can be rescinded.
Johnson is a hard-nosed runner with the football. He had two 100-yard rushing games in emergency duty in 2021. But a knock against him is he’s a one-trick pony – a runner only and not particularly adept at receiving the ball. That’s probably the biggest reason he did not receive an offer sheet.
Now here’s the interesting part. The Browns used two of their top 30 pre-draft visits on backs with college experience catching the ball – James Cook of Georgia and Rachaad White of Arizona State, who are projected for the fourth or fifth round.
Keep in mind that Kareem Hunt – one of the best receiving backs in the NFL – is entering the final year of a two-year contract extension signed in 2021.
If the Browns are looking for an heir to Hunt as a pass-receiving back, Johnson might not be the guy. It might come from the draft.
There’s also 2021 seventh-round pick Demetric Felton, who had 18 receptions for 181 yards as a rookie.
I asked Berry about Johnson’s future with the Browns. He answered: “To be honest, again, my focus is really on the draft. We will be able to deal with all of those outstanding roster issues as we move forward. D’Ernest is a good player. We anticipate him being here. We will deal with that as we get into the weeks after the draft.”
Johnson changed agents to Drew Rosenhaus last month.
