Tag: football

Wins? Seems Like Making Good Trades And Drafting Well Is A Victory For Berry

For us, you can tell a lot about a leader by the way they act when things are going bad.  Since this is Cleveland Sports Perspective, we are talking about the guys in charge of the professional sports teams in northeast Ohio.

With the Guardians, when they aren’t playing well, president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff, usually Antonetti, make themselves available to talk to the media and by proxy, the fans. 

Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman doesn’t talk to the media very much whether the team is going good or bad. 

Which brings us to the Browns.  GM Andrew Berry has been very visible lately appearing on both national and local sports shows.  Last year, when the Browns were struggling through a 5-12 season, he was mostly silent. 

Even when he traded the team’s opening day starting quarterback, Joe Flacco, it was left to coach Kevin Stefanski to talk about the move to the press. 

So, why the change?  Our guess is Berry thinks he made some tremendous move in trading the best defensive player in franchise history and so he is out there front and center to answer questions about his “master stroke”. 

Plus he oversaw a good draft last year and is getting kudos for his selections in April. 

But this is the best time of the year for the Browns, because actual games haven’t been played yet.  Berry can talk about the great plans and vision he has for the team, but the games don’t start for three months. 

What is troubling though is there seems to still be a division in the ranks, and it showed itself in the way coach Todd Monken and Berry had different thoughts about Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby. 

Sorsby has admitted to betting on games involving the team he was on, a no-no for most in sports.  Pete Rose isn’t in the Baseball Hall of Fame because he did it 

In his comments to the media, Monken wanted no part of Sorsby, and frankly, we wouldn’t want him on the team either.  Berry was open to having him on the Browns, saying in essence, everyone should be forgiven for making a mistake. 

While that’s true, gambling and professional sports are different. 

But the rub for us is why aren’t Monken and Berry on the same page here?  We would guess for many of the successful franchises in the NFL, the GM and the coach are in lock step, and maybe Monken and Berry are in most matters. 

In the past, we have felt the Browns don’t put a big value on character, opted for talent above all else.  How’s that working out for them?

The message from the Browns this whole off-season has been talking up Deshaun Watson who is a free agent after the season, so the only real positive result in playing him would really be a season winning at least 10 games. 

If they go 7-10 with him, they don’t have a top ten draft pick in all likelihood unless they make a trade, and they haven’t found out anything about Shedeur Sanders, who they should be seeing if he has anything. 

And if Sanders is a colossal failure, like many think, playing him probably gives the Browns a top five pick in the ’27 draft, which is what most of their fans want. 

As for Berry, shouldn’t another bad season cost him his job?  If the Browns start off, say 1-3 or 0-4, will Berry be doing interviews all over the place? 

Our guess is he will let Monken explain to the fans why they are suffering through another season of mediocrity. 

Browns Offense Gets A Makeover

The Cleveland Browns acted boldly in the first round of the NFL draft trading up at the beginning of the draft, and making a quarterback change later in the first round.

Moving up one spot to pick Alabama RB Trent Richardson was done to make sure the Browns got the best running back in the draft.  Richardson is arguably the best runner Cleveland has had since the days of Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner.

There are critics who say GM Tom Heckert didn’t have to move up, but obviously he was weary of Tampa Bay dealing with the Vikings to get the pick with the idea of getting Richardson.

It says something about it being a good pick that other teams were trying to move up to get him.

Besides, even though the NF L is a passing league, you still can’t win unless you can run the ball and you can stop the run.  The Browns have ranked in the lower third in the league in rushing for sometime now.

The bigger surprise was the selection of Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden with the 22nd pick.

There were reports that the Browns were enamored of Weeden, but it was thought Heckert would take him with his second round selection.

That choice tells you all you want to know about how the team felt about Colt McCoy.  It is obvious coach Pat Shurmur felt McCoy was responsible for the poor performance of the offense last year.

Now, Cleveland has a passer with a big time arm, so there can be no more excuses as to why the attack doesn’t throw the ball downfield more often.

As for the biggest question mark about Weeden, his age, if he’s going to start next season, it’s not really a factor.  The Browns can still get 8-10 years out of him if he avoids injury.

And that’s up to Holmgren and Heckert to make sure he has the proper protection.

It would be surprising if McCoy is still on the roster come Monday morning.  The bet here is he will be dealt for a late round draft pick before the end of the draft.

Just remember this, however, St. Louis’ offense had similar yards per attempt numbers when Shurmur was the Rams’ coordinator, and he had Sam Bradford as his quarterback in the second year there.

So, fans will see once and for all if it was McCoy or the Pat Shurmur version of the west coast offense that is the problem.

Shurmur will have a lot of explaining to do if after the first half of the season, the passing offense is still filled with a variety of short throws.  West coast offense or not, the passing attack has to be opened up if Cleveland is to win.

Back to Richardson, if he’s as good as advertised, we will provide someone opposing defenses will have to game plan for.  When was the last time the Browns could say that?

He also takes pressure off of Weeden, who should have a strong running game to keep the heat off of him.

And you can expect Heckert to draft a wide receiver today, perhaps as early as the 37th overall pick.  That would give Weeden a pair of solid wide outs, as we suspect Greg Little will be a much better player than he was as a rookie.

Perhaps it’s the Browns version of “the triplets”.

Hopefully, yesterday started the next era of Browns football.  There is no doubt it will continue today with rounds two and three.

JD