Berry Should Share At Least Equal Blame For Browns’ Mess

A few weeks ago, we said it was time for the Cleveland Browns to consider a coaching change. We were pushed over the edge watching an inept offense week after week.

The 17 point threshold is apparently difficult to get past, at least in Cleveland.

However, that doesn’t mean GM Andrew Berry should be off the hook (Paul DePodesta too, but that’s a different conversation). Yes, we know the 2025 draft class looks very good, and yes, we know Berry didn’t have a first round pick for the three prior seasons.

We write that last sentence knowing he was at least part of the decision to trade those picks in the Deshaun Watson trade, so he can’t be excused for not having the choices.

Shouldn’t Berry be part of the group who decides what kind of team the Cleveland Browns will be? A couple of years ago, we would have said they wanted to be a physical squad, running the ball with Nick Chubb and using a play-action passing game.

Defensively, they want to play man-to-man coverage and put a lot of pressure on the quarterback.

So, let’s look at the offense, since that is the huge problem right now.

The offensive line is a major problem, and Berry chose to draft two running backs and two quarterbacks and no linemen last draft. In 2024, he drafted Zak Zinter on the third round, and Zinter has not been active for any game this year.

He did draft two in ’23, Dawand Jones in the 4th round and Luke Wypler in the 6th, and drafted only one, Dawson Deaton in the 7th round in ’22. The year prior it was James Hudson on the 4th.

Jones is often injured and Wypler looks like he has a future. That’s all the GM has to show for the last five drafts.

His misses at the wide receiver position are also well documented. He coveted Jerry Jeudy for several years and then gave him a big contract during his first season with the Browns, by far the best of career.

Here are his draft picks: Anthony Schwartz (3rd round-2021), David Bell (3rd-’22), Michael Woods (5th-’22), Cedric Tillman (3rd-’23), Jamari Thrash (5th-’24). The last two of this group show promise, but there are no standouts to this point.

He signed Isaiah Bond as a free agent, and it seemed like the organization was patting itself on the back for that move, but Bond has shown little so far, and seems to have been handed a starting gig after Tillman was injured.

He also never drafted an heir apparent to Chubb as the running back was getting into his late twenties. A good general manager has to keep his roster prepared.

Berry has famously drafted only one Pro Bowler as well, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, in the drafts he has presided over. He has found good value on the undrafted free agent market, S Ronnie Hickman and LB Mohamoud Diabate stand out, but that doesn’t outweigh not getting impact players in the draft.

In short, what can Berry hang his hat on? He has strengthened the defense for sure, it’s one of the league’s best, but you can’t just have one strong unit in the NFL and win. Not to mention the team’s best player, Myles Garrett, was not selected by the current GM.

Does one solid draft mean Andrew Berry’s done a solid job. We say no. He is equally responsible for the failure of the Cleveland Browns.

2024 Has Been A Year Of Mistakes For The Browns

The Cleveland Browns seemed poised to at least tie up their game against Philadelphia in the fourth quarter, trailing 20-13 and having a first down and goal at the Eagles’ 8 with four and a half minutes left.

But then the mistakes occurred. A false start on rookie Zak Zinter on 3rd and goal from the three moved Cleveland back. Then as the Browns were going for it on fourth down, Jedrick Wills jumped and push the team back to the 13-yard line.

From there, Kevin Stefanski thought it was too risky to have a fourth and goal from over 10 yards and kicked a field goal, hoping the defense could get the ball back one last time.

It was just another couple of mistakes in not only a season plagued with errors, but an entire off-season of decisions being made that have backfired on the organization.

In their playoff season a year ago when they went 11-6, the Browns ranked 10th in the NFL in offense. But apparently, that wasn’t good enough for the brass, and they replaced Alex Van Pelt, who had been the offensive coordinator since Stefanski was hired, with Ken Dorsey, who worked with “dual threat” quarterbacks at Carolina and Buffalo.

Offensive line coach (and guru) Bill Callahan left because his son Brian was named head coach with the Titans, and the Browns went outside the organization to hire Andy Dickerson, who they interviewed for the OC job.

Why they didn’t go with Scott Peters, Callahan’s assistant is a question that should be answered by the front office. In the name of continuity, it might have been the wiser choice.

They also dismissed long time running backs coach Stump Mitchell and brought in Duce Staley.

The point is there were a lot of changes on the offensive coaching staff considering the offense performed pretty well last season, especially when you factor in the number of different starting quarterbacks the team played.

After Joe Flacco’s very good play down the stretch last season, the Browns could have brought him back to be the backup quarterback, but they feared the fans’ reaction if Deshaun Watson didn’t play well, so they passed on him.

He went to Indianapolis where he has a 102.2 passer rating with seven touchdown throws and just one interception in three games. For a frame of reference, Watson has five TD passes in six contests.

All of these changes were made with the idea of getting Watson to perform as he did when he was with Houston, in 2020. Instead, he is playing worse than he has ever played.

During his partial seasons with the Browns, 2022 due to suspension and 2023 because of injury he wasn’t this bad. In six starts this season, the quarterback has yet to throw for 200 yards in a game.

Even worse, he’s now started 18 games in a Cleveland uniform and has yet to throw for 300 yards. As a frame of reference, Flacco had four such games in the five he started for the Browns last season.

It’s been a year filled with mistakes starting with the front office trying to fix something that didn’t need to be fixed. It’s continued on to the playing field where penalties, dropped passes, and coverage breakdowns are causing the Browns to lose every week.

The players need to play better. The front office needs to admit their mistakes as well.

Oh Yeah, The Browns Drafted Some Players

Lost in the excitement of the Cavaliers’ playoff run and the Guardians’ surprising start, the NFL Draft came and went a couple of weeks ago and the Cleveland Browns selected six players.

(We say this tongue-in-cheek because we know for many people in northeast Ohio, the Browns are the only professional team that exists. It certainly seems that way listening to local sports talk).

Anyway, this was the last season the Browns were still paying off their trade for Deshaun Watson, so they did not have a first-round pick, and of course, that selection is usually the one that gets the most attention.

And the Browns were a very good team in 2023, going 11-6 and making the playoffs. Really, they had no glaring holes, so for the most part, the players selected in the draft are adding to the depth of the roster.

They took a local guy, Streetsboro’s Michael Hall Jr. out of Ohio State with their second-round selection, and actually he could be someone who could get playing time seeing how defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz likes to rotate his lineman.

Before the draft took place, we were asked whatever happened to the University of Michigan offensive lineman who broke his leg against the Buckeyes. Well, Zak Zinter was Cleveland’s second selection in the third round. With Joel Bitonio now 33, the Browns need a guard that can be his replacement down the road.

Zinter may be that guy. He probably would have been taken earlier had it not been for the injury in his final college game.

The rest of the picks are probably special team type players. GM Andrew Berry fed his need to draft a wide receiver in Jamari Thrash out of Louisville. He’s a big play guy and Cleveland seems to always be looking for a “burner”.

Nathaniel Watson is purported to be a run stuffing linebacker and the buzz around him from the local media seems to be that of a special team ace.

Berry also loves to draft cornerbacks and in today’s NFL that’s not a bad theory. He got one on the second round in Myles Harden from South Dakota, and the reports on him are he should have gone earlier.

And their last pick, DT Jowon Briggs from Cincinnati, provides another defensive lineman for Schwartz and the coaching staff to develop.

We were a little surprised the Browns didn’t draft a running back, even after they signed D’Onta Foreman as a free agent from the Bears. Foreman gained over 900 yards two years ago with Carolina, and we feel Cleveland needs a consistent ground threat, because no one knows what Nick Chubb will be when he is ready to go.

Everyone keeps talking about how Cleveland is going to be pass happy with Watson this season, but at their core, the Browns and head coach Kevin Stefanski like to have a strong ground game. Frankly, we also think this is the team’s best path to winning.

That doesn’t mean we don’t believe that the Browns’ best chance to make a serious run at a conference championship is having Watson play like he did with the Texans.

The pressure is on the QB and still, giving up three first round picks and paying him a boatload of guaranteed money, it should be.