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Andrew Berry

Latest On Browns’ Coaching & GM Search

January 12th, 2020 at 7:21pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Browns have their new head coach in Kevin Stefanski, but they still need a new GM after firing John Dorsey. They recently requested an interview with Eagles exec Andrew Berry, and Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports tweets that he’s “at the front of the GM candidates.”

Robinson notes that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam once said he considered Berry a future GM, and that he has a relationship with chief strategist Paul DePodesta. In a separate tweet, Robinson explains that it may come down to whether or not Berry wants to take the job. He notes that Berry, who used to work in Cleveland under former GM Sashi Brown, is only 32 and in a good situation in Philly. He also writes that Berry will likely get other calls if he passes on the job.

As for the search that ultimately ended in Stefanski, Robinson has some interesting new nuggets. He tweets that Josh McDaniels “wanted a specific structure with the Browns” and that he “wasn’t going to an org where DePodesta or anyone else was a ‘side jury’ reporting to Haslam.” If that’s the case, then it sounds like McDaniels never got too close to landing in Cleveland despite his lengthy visit. The Browns and Haslam have caught plenty of flak for their odd reporting structures, and it sounds like that was an issue once again this time around. 

Robinson also tweets that both Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh “had very good interviews” and that he thinks they were the finalists along with Stefanski. Both should be hot names during next cycle. As for Stefanski’s staff, Robinson tweets that the rookie head coach will likely target either Gary or Klint Kubiak. The Kubiaks were on staff with Stefanski in Minnesota, although Robinson thinks the Vikings will try to retain both. Either could be a candidate to be Cleveland’s new OC assuming Stefanski hires one.

Finally, Robinson tweeted about the future prospects for assistant GM Eliot Wolf and VP of Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith. He thinks the Haslams are open to both staying, and that Wolf will have a conversation with whoever the new GM is about a role.

Browns Request GM Interview With Eagles’ Andrew Berry

January 11th, 2020 at 3:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Browns are interested in bringing Andrew Berry back to Cleveland. They requested an interview with the Eagles’ vice president of football operations, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).

With Berry being part of the Browns’ new-age front office experiment, along with Sashi Brown and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, this certainly loomed as a possibility. The Eagles hired Berry in February of last year.

The prospect of a Berry-DePodesta reunion surfaced earlier this week. DePodesta is seeking an analytically oriented coach, and Berry would make sense as a GM for this approach. Prior to becoming a the Colts’ pro scouting coordinator and the Browns’ VP of player personnel, Berry graduated from Harvard with an economics degree. He has a computer science master’s.

Despite the Browns wanting to hire their head coach before their GM, front office candidates have emerged. Cleveland is slated to interview Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds. Seahawks execs Trent Kirchner and Scott Fitterer are on the radar as well. So is Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (on Twitter).

Reuniting DePodesta and Berry would be an interesting move for a Browns franchise that hit its low point during their previous time together. Cleveland went an NFL-record 1-31 in this duo’s first two years working with Brown and Hue Jackson. Both Berry and DePodesta were on board for a 2018 Browns draft that included Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward and Nick Chubb. But since-departed GM John Dorsey held the most influence in that process.

Latest On Browns’ HC Search

January 7th, 2020 at 8:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Browns are no longer competing with any team for coaching candidates, with the Panthers and Giants having made their choices. However, neither hired a coach the Browns were considering. Both were linked to Josh McDaniels, who remains set to interview with the Browns on Friday.

But with Jim Schwartz entering the derby and Kevin Stefanski remaining a Browns target, McDaniels’ status as frontrunner may be slipping. The Patriots offensive coordinator may not have the edge Schwartz or Stefanski, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (video link).

Stefanski wowed Browns brass in his 2019 interview, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer adds. But then-GM John Dorsey promoted Freddie Kitchens instead. With Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta running this year’s search, the team appears to be seeking analytically geared coaches. Schwartz and Stefanski profile as embracing analytics, per Rapoport.

McDaniels, however, still has support in the Browns building, Cabot notes, adding that DePodesta and ex-Browns exec Andrew Berry (now with the Eagles) would be interested in a reunion. However, Cabot points to said reunion being most likely to commence with Stefanski as the head coach.

McDaniels’ interview will occur Friday — two days after Schwartz’s and one day after Stefanski’s. A northeast Ohio native, the 43-year-old McDaniels has interviewed with the Browns twice before. He met with the Browns during previous owner Randy Lerner‘s tenure in 2009, but the team hired Eric Mangini. McDaniels withdrew his name from consideration after interviewing in 2014, when current owner Jimmy Haslam was in charge. The Browns conducted a lengthy search in 2014; McDaniels was once believed to be the favorite during that process as well. The Browns want to make their hire by Saturday, so second interviews do not appear to be on tap.

Here is where the Browns’ process stands as of Tuesday night, courtesy of PFR’s Head Coaching Search Tracker:

Eagles Notes: Roseman, Weidl, Wentz

June 14th, 2019 at 12:00pm CST by Zachary Links

The departure of Joe Douglas to the Jets has let to some front office shuffling for the Eagles. This week, the Eagles officially added the title of GM to Howie Roseman‘s nameplate and elevated Andy Weidl from director of player personnel to vice president of player personnel.

“Andy was raised in a great scouting community with the Steelers, Saints, and Ravens and then came to Philadelphia at the same time that we hired Joe,” Roseman said in a statement. “He’s grown from assistant director of player personnel to director of player personnel and really deserves an opportunity to run the scouting department on a day-to-day basis as the vice president of player personnel. We’re excited about Andy.”

The Eagles will now forge ahead without Douglas in a quest to capture another Super Bowl ring. Here’s the latest from Philly:

  • Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of the Eagles’ front office shuffle, from Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer (on Twitter): The team has two main arteries – a football operations department and a player personnel department. Andrew Berry is atop football operations while Weidl is atop player personnel. Both execs will funnel up to Roseman, who is atop the chart.
  • Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap took a deep dive into Carson Wentz‘s extension, which is not as clear-cut as first believed.
  • Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins wants a new contract, but he still showed up for mandatory minicamp.

How Will The Eagles Replace Joe Douglas?

June 9th, 2019 at 10:17am CST by Rory Parks

Teams obviously hate to lose talented front office executives, and when it happens, the losing club will invariably wish the departing exec all the best and will lament how difficult it will be to replace him.

But for the Eagles, who lost Howie Roseman‘s second-in-command when Joe Douglas agreed to accept the Jets’ GM job several days ago, replacing Douglas really will be a tall order. Douglas was instrumental in some of the major roster decisions that turned Philadelphia into a Super Bowl champion at the end of the 2017 season, and his fingerprints are all over the 2019 club, which is again expected to compete for a title.

Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com examines three potential candidates to fill the void that Douglas left: vice president of football operations Andrew Berry, assistant director of player personnel Andy Weidl, and recently-deposed Texans GM Brian Gaine.

Berry is perhaps the most logical choice, as he was hired by the Eagles just a few months ago as a potential replacement for Douglas when Douglas ultimately moved on. Philadelphia may not have thought that it would need to fill Douglas’ role so soon, but it seemed the club knew that Douglas would get a GM gig sooner rather than later. Berry spent three years with the Browns as their vice president of player personnel, and while his background isn’t in college scouting, he is still widely respected in league circles and is seen as a future GM himself.

Weidl came to the Eagles along with Douglas in 2016, and he has a scouting background to rival Douglas’. Weidl may join Douglas’ new staff in New York, but that is still a fluid situation.

Gaine, meanwhile, was shockingly fired by the Texans just one year into his tenure as GM, and no one has been able to figure out exactly why. His inclusion on Rosenblatt’s list is perhaps more speculation than anything else, but Gaine has not — on the surface — done anything to damage his reputation as a talented executive, and he will surely get a prominent role somewhere. He may find Philadelphia’s strong front office as an attractive place to land on his feet.

Eagles Hire Andrew Berry

February 25th, 2019 at 8:43am CST by Dallas Robinson

The Eagles and general manager Howie Roseman have made an addition to the club’s front office, hiring former Browns executive Andrew Berry as vice president of football operations, according to Ian Rapoport and Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL.com (Twitter link).

Berry joined Cleveland’s front office in 2016 after ex-GM Sashi Brown hired him as vice president of player personnel. He’s now being hired away by the Eagles for what is considered a promotion, tweets Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Berry had reportedly drawn interest from several other teams in the past, per Rapoport and Kinkhabwala, but the Eagles make sense as a fit given Cleveland and Philadelphia’s shared interest in analytics.

A Harvard graduate, Berry first entered the NFL in 2009 as a scouting assistant in the Colts’ front office. He was eventually promoted through a number of roles, and ultimately served as Indianapolis’ pro scouting coordinator from 2012-16 before leaving for Cleveland.

Although Berry is departing the Browns’ front office, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta is expected to remain in his current role, per Cabot (Twitter link).

North Notes: Vikes, Browns, Ravens, Sutton

May 26th, 2018 at 7:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

At Vikings OTAs this week, they placed Mike Remmers back at right tackle, per Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Remmers finished last season playing guard, and the Vikings used a second-round pick on tackle Brian O’Neill out of Pittsburgh. Minnesota had UFA signee Tom Compton working as its first-string right guard during OTAs, per Rand. Compton has never been a full-time starter in his six-year career, coming closest with the 2014 Redskins, who used him as a nine-game starter. Last season, the Bears started Compton in five of the 11 games he played. Minnesota lost its most effective blocker, Joe Berger, to retirement and did not make any notable additions beyond Compton at the guard spot.

Here’s more from the north:

  • The Browns have made some adjustments to their front office and scouting department, and Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com expects that to continue. She targets the VP of player personnel decision as a possible turnover spot. Alonzo Highsmith, Ken Kovash and Andrew Berry currently reside in that role. John Dorsey just hired Highsmith, and Cabot reports Berry is safe from a change despite being an integral part of the previous regime. The Browns promoted Kovash shortly after the Sashi Brown regime took over in 2016 after he’d previously worked as the franchise’s director of football research.
  • Converted cornerback Damarious Randall will be the Browns’ starter at free safety this season, relocating Jabrill Peppers to strong safety, per Cabot. Gregg Williams‘ deep placement of Peppers, sometimes more than 25 yards off the ball, became a constant source of discussion and derision among Browns fans, and Peppers himself may be a bit tired of the jokes. But the Browns will now place him closer to the line of scrimmage, which is similar to the role he had at Michigan.
  • Optimism exists around Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith, who saw a strong season end early in 2017 because of a torn Achilles, but Jeff Zreibec of the Baltimore Sun notes the veteran may not be ready for the start of training camp. The career-long Raven is going into his age-30 season.
  • Additional Ravens’ timelines are coming into focus as well. Defensive lineman Carl Davis, who started nine games last season, underwent surgery to repair a tear in his shoulder earlier this offseason, Zreibec reports. The former third-round pick is questionable to participate in minicamp. Offensive lineman Nico Siragusa also had an operation this offseason. The 2017 fourth-round pick missed all of last season because of ACL, MCL and PCL tears and required an additional knee surgery this year. Zreibec reports the goal for him is a training camp return. As for Alex Lewis, Baltimore’s projected guard starter opposite Marshal Yanda, he’s fully recovered from the shoulder injury that nixed all of his 2017 season, Zreibec notes.
  • The Steelers aren’t sure where to station Cameron Sutton. The 2017 third-round pick played 117 snaps as a rookie after an injury delayed his NFL debut. Pittsburgh may be planning to use him at outside or slot cornerback, or as a safety alongside Morgan Burnett, Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. But he notes that Artie Burns and Sean Davis will still have first crack at their respective jobs, outside cornerback and the non-Burnett safety starter, with the Steelers still hoping for the high draft picks’ upside to show. Mike Hilton remains the frontrunner to be the Steelers’ slot corner, where the former UDFA fared well in 2017.

Browns Part Ways With Ryan Grigson

January 10th, 2018 at 1:44pm CST by Zachary Links

The Browns have parted ways with executive Ryan Grigson, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com (on Twitter) hears. Meanwhile, Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta, andVP/player personnel Andrew Berry will continue in their present roles with the team, according to ESPN.com’s Tony Grossi (on Twitter). Ryan Grigson (Vertical)

[RELATED: Browns Hire Eliot Wolf As Assistant GM]

New GM John Dorsey has set out to shake things up in the Browns’ front office. Soon after taking the job, Dorsey plucked Alonzo Highsmith (now the team’s Vice President of Football Operations) and Eliot Wolf (newly appointed assistant GM) from the Packers. The former Colts GM, however, will not be a part of the revamped group.

It’s somewhat surprising to hear that DePodesta and Berry will keep their jobs, particularly after Dorsey ripped former head honcho Sashi Brown and “the guys” who were a part of “that system.” Dorsey has used analytics in the past, but he a traditional football man at heart, so DePodesta may not have much impact in what goes down this offseason.

Latest On Browns, John Dorsey

December 8th, 2017 at 12:48pm CST by Zachary Links

The Browns dominated the news cycle on Thursday by canning top decision maker Sashi Brown and, hours later, replacing him with ex-Chiefs GM John Dorsey. On Friday morning, owner Jimmy Haslam formally announced Dorsey as the team’s new GM and shed some light on the team’s power structure going forward. Here’s a look at the highlights from Haslam plus more news on the Browns’ future plans:

  • Haslam says the current plan is for head coach Hue Jackson, Dorsey, and executive Paul DePodesta to report to ownership (Twitter link via Andrew Gribble of ClevelandBrowns.com). “[Hue] and John will be working closely together for a long time,” Haslam said.
  • Because DePodesta reports directly to Haslam, Dorsey will not have the authority to fire him, Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer hears. The Browns also want to keep Andrew Berry as the Vice President of Player Personnel. Dorsey, will have the opportunity to hire and fire others in the personnel department, but it sounds like he has been asked to work with both DePodesta and Berry.
  • Haslam reiterated that Jackson will be the coach in 2018. He then went a step further, adding: “I think it would be a mistake to just zero in on ’18. We’re planning on Hue Jackson being our football coach for a long time,” Haslam said (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Pat McManamon).
  • Dorsey has control over the 53-man roster in his contract, sources tell Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). That means he’ll run the draft, free agency, and all other facets of constructing the team. In Kansas City, coach Andy Reid had control over the 53-man roster.
  • The failed A.J. McCarron trade on the Oct. 31 NFL trade deadline had nothing to do with the team beginning to pursue Dorsey five or six weeks ago, Haslam insists (Twitter link via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal).
  • Things reached a boiling point between Jackson and Brown in August when the team cut cornerback Joe Haden, despite already having plenty of cap space, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports hears. Jackson’s frustration was later compounded when Haden signed with the rival Steelers. Jackson was also riddled with anxiety on draft day since the front office was undecided about the No. 1 overall pick until the morning of the draft. The latest source of tension came from the McCarron deal. Robinson hears that some senior members of the coaching staff felt that Brown had either gotten cold feet or purposely sabotaged the trade.

Browns To Retain Paul DePodesta

December 7th, 2017 at 12:31pm CST by Zachary Links

The Browns aren’t totally cleaning house. At least, not yet. For the time being, Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta and Vice President of Player Personnel Andrew Berry will keep their jobs, Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer hears. Paul DePodesta (vertical)

[RELATED: Browns Fire VP Sashi Brown]

DePodesta was brought on in 2016 to help spearhead the Browns’ analytical efforts. His hiring was one of the more unconventional moves in recent NFL history since he had no previous experience in the sport.

So far, the numbers crunching of the former A’s exec and Dodgers GM hasn’t improved the Browns’ on-field product, but the team has amassed an impressive amount of draft capital under his guidance. And, of the team’s 24 picks made in the last two years, 20 remain on the roster. To some extent, the team’s strategy of multiplying draft picks has been a success, and DePodesta has played a role in that.

Meanwhile, the search for Sashi Brown‘s replacement is already underway. The Browns are said to be eyeing former Chiefs GM John Dorsey and he may be the frontrunner for the job.

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