Andrew Berry is back in Cleveland as GM. Photo by Joshua Gunter, cleveland.comAP
CLEVELAND – Browns fans have seen this before.
Andrew Berry
There’s a tendency for any new regime in Berea to immediately dump players from the previous front office. That’s especially true of “working class players,” as former Browns great Joe Thomas calls the unspectacular veterans who help a team win.
While many Browns fans focus on how the Sashi Brown front office released Joe Haden, a more serious error was refusing to make a long-term deal with offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz in 2016.
The Browns also traded solid linebacker Demario Davis to the Jets for a safety named Calvin Pryor. Davis has become a key starter for New Orleans. No clue what happened to Pryor.
That front office also let Jordan Poyer walk away. He has been a starting safety for Buffalo the last two seasons.
When John Dorsey replaced Sashi Brown as head of football operations, he promised to bring in “real football players.”
But he also traded away a few useful players such as
I’m sure there are other examples of former Browns who left and the team received little or nothing in return.
I don’t know how much influence Berry had on those decisions. Brown was in charge. Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta put together the big picture of adding drafting picks and salary cap room while slashing veterans and their contracts.
Berry was below those guys in the chain of command.
Of course the Browns need changes, beginning with the offensive line, tight end and defensive line.
But this is a team with a QB to develop (Baker Mayfield) and two talented running backs (Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt) and a star defensive end in Myles Garrett. You can add other names of your favorite players such as guard Joel Bitonio center JC Tretter and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi.
The Browns should move on from Olivier Vernon, who played only 10 games because of a knee injury. Vernon has a non-guaranteed salary of $15 million in 2020.
In the last three years, Vernon has missed four, five and six games, respectively. He was part of the ill-advised trade with the Giants where the Browns sent dependable offensive guard Kevin Zeitler to New York.
They need to have a serious discussion about Odell Beckham Jr. Is he willing to buy into what new head coach Kevin Stefanski has in mind? Also, can Beckham stay healthy?
The two big trades with the Giants for Beckham and Vernon didn’t pay off, at least in terms of the major impact the Browns expected.
When a new front office and coaching staff take over, there’s a temptation to focus on what the current players can’t do.
The Dorsey front office didn’t like Joe Schobert in terms of his tackling at middle linebacker. But the coaches loved Schobert’s leadership and effectiveness in pass coverage.
Like Schobert, Rashard Higgins is an unrestricted free
Then there’s the big question of what kind of defense will they use? The Browns have been built to run a 4-3 defense. New defensive coordinator Joe
Woods has experience with both systems.
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