Browns GM Andrew Berry seemed shaken by the team's 2-7 demise this season and offered few details on how he will clean up the mess and proceed in 2025. (TheLandOnDemand)
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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.
Takeaways from GM Andrew Berry’s press availability …
Even when things are going well for the Browns, Andrew Berry’s formal Q&A sessions can be frustrating and unsatisfying to fans and media seeking direct answers to direct questions. He is much better in smaller group or 1-on-1 settings.
Plainspokenness is not a virtue of the Harvard graduate with degrees in economics and computer science. Still the youngest general manager five years running, Berry, 37, simply speaks a different language than his fan base. He uses terms like “thought partner” and “empirical,” for instance, to describe Paul DePodesta, owner Jimmy Haslam’s behind-the-curtain chief strategy officer who partnered Berry with coach Kevin Stefanski five years ago.
Now, in a season that flew off the rails weeks ago, imperiling the job security of everyone under Haslam’s death stare, Berry appeared a tad shaken by the steep demise of last year’s playoff team.
Like the salary cap charges of so many players he signed and then restructured, Berry kicked the can down the road on just about every pertinent question.
“I know that there will be a lot regarding the ’25 roster and decisions that are approaching,” Berry said in his opening remarks. “I always think that type of discussion reflection is more appropriate for after the season.”
As a result, what Berry didn’t say at times was more revealing than what he said.
On Deshaun Watson
There were 14 questions about Watson. Berry tap-danced around every one of them. He declined to say what Watson’s future is.
“Really our focus with Deshaun I would say, for any player with a season-ending injury and a major injury, is first and foremost with the recovery and to make sure that he gets healthy from the Achilles injury,” Berry said. “Everything else we’ll deal with at a later moment.”
Conspicuously absent was the typical strong endorsement of Watson as the team’s “franchise quarterback” that cringing Browns fans have heard for three years. Berry did not flatly say the Browns would bring Watson back as the team’s quarterback in 2025.
But when asked if Watson could play more ball for the Browns again, Berry said, unconvincingly, “Yeah, I think that’s always possible.”
Asked if the negative fan reaction to Watson’s season-ending injury would factor in the organization’s decision on Watson, Berry said, “So, first and foremost, we love our fans. We know that they’re passionate and they love the team. As we make decisions organizationally, it’ll always be within what we think is within the best interest of the franchise. And some of those will be popular, some of those will be unpopular. But that’s really the way that we’ll navigate it.”
Was the trade for Watson a good one?
“I’m really not in reflection mode,” Berry answered. “Our focus is really on finishing out the 2024 season, having the team play at a higher level, and then kind of we’ll get to those maybe longer-term or big-picture reflections at a later point in time.”
Was the trade for Watson mandated by ownership?
“I’d say this,” Berry said. “Like we’ve always said, all of us were on board. Everyone’s on board and obviously with a big commitment in that regard, that’s always going to be the case.”
On where they go from here
I asked Berry, “Given the record this year, given the obvious salary cap situation ahead, and given the state of the quarterback situation, what hope do the fans have they they’ll see a playoff season in the near future?”
He answered, “I think, number one, our focus is on the short term and the long term. I’d say short term, playing good football here down the stretch and making sure that we make the adjustments over the bye week that will enable us to do that.
“And in terms of longer-term planning, we never look at it just in terms of in a vacuum, in a single-year focus. We’ll have the resources and we’ll be able to make the adjustments that allow us to continue to build the team and the roster.”
Berry was asked if he felt a complete tear-down of the roster is necessary.
“I think one of the beauties of the NFL is it’s not like baseball, it’s not like basketball, where at times you may need these half-decade long pivots or rebuilds,” he said. “I think you see it every year with team … just the margins are so thin. And then, honestly, with just the way that our sport works with player procurement, it’s not like we’re drafting a 16-year-old kid who’s got to play eight years in the minors before he comes and produces, or something along those lines. So I think generally you don’t necessarily have to see those pivots in our sport.”
On job security
Berry and Stefanski each received contract extensions after the team reached the playoffs with an 11-6 record last year. Berry was asked if he was confident the Haslams would allow both to continue on the job.
Berry used the question to promote Stefanski.
“I think there are 13 coaches in the history of the sport who won coach-of-the-year awards multiple times,” he said. “Ten of them went to a Super Bowl or an NFL championship. Six of them won one, and seven are in the Hall of Fame. And he’s the second-fastest to do it. Kevin’s an outstanding coach, and he’s absolutely part of the solution with everything.”
On hunting the next “franchise” quarterback
Berry has taken one quarterback in five drafts, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, in the fifth round of the 2023 draft. Will he make quarterback the top priority of this coming draft season?
“That’s a decision we’ll make in April every year,” Berry said. “We do work on every position and then we’ll make the selections that are necessary based on how the board falls, based on what we do early in the free agency period. But it’s a long way away before we write those.”
I asked if it was important to see DTR play over an extended period of time to evaluate his role in the future.
“In general, I would say we’re going to play the guys that we think give us the best chance to perform well on Sundays and beat the upcoming opponent,” he said.