Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski are entering their fifth year together. Only three other GM-coach tandems have stayed together longer in Browns history. (Cleveland Browns)
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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
ORLANDO, FL
Leftover takeaways from NFL owners meetings …
With contract extensions on the way, the pairing of GM Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski already is one of the longest-running football partnerships in Browns history.
Entering its fifth year together, the Berry-Stefanski tandem has exceeded every partnership in the Browns’ expansion era.
Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel lasted four seasons together (2005-08) under the Randy Lerner ownership.
Under the Haslam ownership, no GM-coach stayed together longer than two full seasons -- Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine in 2014-15, and Sashi Brown and Hue Jackson in 2016-17.
Prior to Berry-Stefanski, John Dorsey completed two full seasons plus one month in the previous season as GM. But Dorsey inherited Jackson for 1 ½ seasons and then hand-picked Freddie Kitchens for 2019.
The length of extensions for Berry and Stefanski are not yet known. But if it’s a conservative two years – and they see them both – they would be together for seven seasons.
That would exceed the reigns of Peter Hadhazy-Sam Rutigliano (six years), Bill Belichick (five) and Ernie Accorsi-Marty Schottenheimer (four).
In the full history of the Browns, seven years would rank third in longest tenure. Harold Sauerbrei and Blanton Collier were GM-coach partners for eight years (1963-70) and Paul Brown was GM-coach for 17 years (1946-62).
Now, here’s the thing about the Berry-Stefanski partnership. At 36, Berry still is the youngest GM in the NFL and graying Stefanski, at 41, is the ninth-youngest head coach.
For the first eight years of his ownership, Haslam struggled to find the right alignment in his football operations department – a GM and head coach who could work together. Now that he has found it, there is no doubt he will keep it together as long as possible.
“They're still really young in their careers,” Haslam said this week. “And I think because they're so mature and they act so much older, you tend to forget that.
“But I think, number one, just another year on the job helps anybody, particularly when you're younger. And number two, they never bat an eye. Deshaun [Watson] is out for the year, here's what we're going to do. Nick Chubb's out for the year, here's what we're going to do. Jack Conklin's out for the year, here's what we're going to do.
“And they don't panic. And I think we appreciate that. But more importantly, the players see it and they go, ‘OK, they have a plan. They're going to put us in position to win.’ And whether it's Kevin coming up with a different scheme or Andrew going out and getting certain players to help us, I mean, they have to work in tandem. And they do that very well.”
No sweat
Most everybody considered the Browns’ ability to win 11 games while having to use four quarterbacks and being without Chubb, Conklin and so many others lost to injuries throughout the season a remarkable achievement.
Berry had a different slant on the 2023 season.
“I'll be honest, we went through a lot tougher stuff before last year,” Berry said. “I mean … COVID [in 2020-21], obviously, trading for Deshaun [in 2022], the Odell [Beckham] situation [in 2021]. So, I mean this last year it was like, ‘OK, it's just injuries?’
“Last year was challenging, but it paled in comparison to the first three if I'm being honest.”
Defense, anyone?
The Browns’ whole offseason conversation has been dominated by offense. You’d think the season ended in the wild-card game with the offense being shut out and the defense losing a tight game.
Doesn’t anybody remember the defense gave up four touchdowns and 356 yards to a Houston offense engineered by rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud?
At Stefanski’s Monday morning press availability, he was asked 35 questions before the subject of the defense was broached.
“Obviously, no one was happy with how it ended and we know, and we knew in the moment, we knew watching the tape and we know now that we have to play better in a moment like that as a team,” Stefanski said. “But I don't think it's fair to discount the defense in total.
“We played really good defense, historic defense at times. We know we can play better. Coach [Jim] Schwartz is committed to making sure that we play better. So those are things that we'll work through. So in no way do you minimize that game because it was important and we're disappointed how it ended, but we want to make sure that we learn from the entirety of the season as we move forward.”
Not surprisingly, Berry had a similar take.
“We just didn't play well – period,” he said. “That's a good offense. Simple as that. I think a lot of times people want to take a singular game and make it something bigger than it actually is. They have a really good quarterback, real good passing game, really good OC. We made a lot of uncharacteristic mental mistakes. Unfortunately, it happened. You have bad days at the office.”
Berry also didn’t sound concerned about the defense’s Jeckyll-and-Hyde performance in home vs. road games.
“I remember last year [the concern] was something like first quarter scoring relative to fourth quarter scoring,” he said. “I mean, every year you have some of these trends that, honestly, they probably fall out as you zoom out a little bit or as you go through time.
“We feel really good about the defense, really feel good about the defensive philosophy. So we're not going to get caught up so much in the weeds with things that are maybe more macro trends throughout the season.”
The major additions to the defense in free agency were defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson, linebacker Jordan Hicks and linebacker Devin Bush.
Brownie bits
The Browns were already in the planning stages for a new, enlarged weight room before they receiving a failing grade on the NFL players union report card last month. Haslam said a new weight room with up to 15,000 square feet is being built with an accompanying walk-through room on the second floor featuring big video boards. The additions will be ready for training camp, but not at the onset of the offseason condition program on April 15 …
Haslam also disclosed general plans for “an exciting [multi-use] development” in areas surrounding the team headquarters in Berea. The team has purchased and demolished dozens of old houses on adjacent streets and expect to announce details of their vision in July …
For the record, here are the latest, official updates on Watson’s recovery from shoulder surgery in November. Dee Haslam: “Everything we've been told is he's doing really well. We're excited about it. He feels really good.” Jimmy Haslam: “High confidence in the doctors.” Berry: “Deshaun's recovery so far, it's been really positive. We're not anticipating any issues.” Stefanski: “We’ll see him in April and we’ll just continue that rehab. I’ll stay out of it and the doctors and trainers will tell me when he’s ready. I know he’s doing a great job. He’s right where he needs to be.”