Adam Berry -- twin brother of Browns GM Andrew -- has left the business world to train as a football exec with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Andrew Berry’s twin is following in his footsteps with the Eagles
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
Takeaways from Day 1 at NFL Combine…
Andrew Berry credits his one season with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2019 for preparing him for the GM job he holds with the Browns. Now his twin brother Adam is following in his footsteps.
A month ago, Adam Berry left investment banking firm Goldman Sachs as a senior trader to join the Eagles in an unspecified front office position.
“I’m excited for Adam,” Andrew said Tuesday at the NFL Combine. “I think it will be a great career transition for him. He’s going to the best front office in football, the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s going to learn under a great mentor, [GM] Howie Roseman. I’m happy for him. I’m excited for him. It’ll be pretty cools to see him even if he is wearing different colors.”
Can Adam follow in Andrew’s footsteps and be an NFL GM some day?
Andrew was a defensive back at Harvard University. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in computer science.
Adam was a wide receiver at Princeton University. He graduated with a bachelor’s in economics.
The biggest difference in the career paths of the brothers, 35, is that Andrew paid his dues as a pro scout and then pro scouting director with the Colts for four seasons before joining the Browns in 2016 as a vice president of player personnel. Adam went to the business world after college and has no NFL experience.
You have to think he’ll be a quick study.
Defensive tackle carousel standing still
The defensive tackle market in free agency is shrinking.
The Washington Commanders applied the franchise tag to Daron Payne, who is the youngest (26 in May), still-ascending tackle in free agency. What’s the price this year for a blue-chip defensive tackle? Well, the tag is $18.9 million, so that’s generally considered the yearly salary range in a long-term deal.
The Commanders want to sign Payne to a long-term deal. If those efforts would fall through, there’s a slim chance he could be traded. But the Browns don’t have the draft capital to even consider a trade.
“He's a guy's that's been very integral into the development of this football team and this defense as well as the other guys that he plays alongside. And we just wanted to make sure everybody understood that we are serious,” Washington coach Ron Rivera said of applying the tag to Payne.
Another potential tackle-of-interest for the Browns, Dalvin Tomlinson of the Vikings, reached an agreement to extend the void on his contract to March 15. That gives the Vikings additional time to re-sign Tomlinson before he hits the free agent market.
“Look, we love Dalvin,” Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “Whenever you have good players in your building and good people, you want to do everything you can to keep them. Obviously, we have a lot of decisions to make, so we're trying to buy ourselves a little more time. If he's listening and he comes back, I'll make sure to get him my shoe plug that he always asks me for. He's a great guy, great player and we love him.”
The Browns are expected to pursue one or two veteran defensive tackles in free agency to satisfy the wishes of new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
The scheme, not the size
Berry isn’t buying the argument that the Browns’ historic problems in defending the run were the result of being too light at defensive tackle and linebacker.
No, the GM faulted the defensive scheme employed by fired coordinator Joe Woods.
I asked Berry if the run defense breakdowns (see: Falcons, Chargers, Saints games) might cause him to rethink the organization’s emphasis on speed over size in the middle of the defense.
“I think that is less really a function of size, to be honest with you,” Berry said. “That really has not been a major talking point with our defensive system. It has probably been a little bit more of style and what we will ask our guys to do and also at some spots just quality.”
Such problems in Cincinnati
The Bengals are crunching numbers to extend the contract of quarterback Joe Burrow and also to take care of No. 2 receiver Tee Higgins before he is eligible for free agency next year.
The feeling is that Burrow will not demand a Deshaun Watson-type, fully guaranteed contract because he wants to keep the band together – meaning he and receivers Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd.
Like Higgins, Boyd is in the final year of his contract. Chase becomes extension-eligible next season.
Duke Tobin, the Bengals director of player personnel and de facto GM, is not stressed about a new deal for Burrow.
"It's not done yet. You know, it's a good problem to have,” Tobin said. “I have been pretty vocal about what Joe means to us, and my job is to facilitate his success as best I can with putting pieces around him, and his contract will get done when it gets done. But it's a good problem to have. He's a vital part of what we're doing."
There has been baseless speculation that the Bengals might seek to trade Higgins because of the difficulty in signing everyone.
“No. No,” Tobin protested. “I'm not in the business of making other teams better. I'm in the business of making the Cincinnati Bengals better. That's not on my mind. They want a receiver, go find your own. In my opinion, Tee Higgins is a good piece for the Cincinnati Bengals. So the trade stuff is a little ridiculous right now.”
