CLEVELAND, Ohio – The business of football can be impersonal and ugly at times, but Browns executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry tries to operate as honestly as possible.
Just look at how Berry handled the fallout last season with Odell Beckham Jr.
Unfortunately, when it came to the Browns pursuit of Deshaun Watson earlier this month and the communication with Baker Mayfield while they went after Watson, things did not go the way Berry intended them to.
“We were pretty open with Baker and his camp in terms of how we view the position,” Berry told reporters at the NFL owners meetings this week according to a transcript of his remarks that was furnished to 92.3 The Fan. “Quite honestly, if there's probably one thing that I would regret or kind of go back differently, when he had been notified we were one of the teams [Deshaun Watson] wanted to meet with, I had set up a call with Baker's representation the following morning. The news got out.
“You always hate those type of situations because it kind of gives off that...you never want that to be how someone finds out about that situation. But on the whole we had been pretty candid in terms of where we sat at the quarterback position.”
While the Browns contingent were returning from Houston on March 15, Mayfield posted a thank you to Cleveland on social media that read like a goodbye.
Two days later Mayfield requested a trade, which the Browns said they would not honor after Watson told them they were eliminated from consideration. On March 18, Watson stunned everyone and chose to waive his no-trade clause with the Texans for the Browns.
With the trade for Watson complete and a fully guaranteed five-year $230 million commitment to him signed, Berry is still saddled with moving on from Mayfield, who is guaranteed $18.858 million this season.
Berry sounded willing to be patient and not rush a trade just for the sake of making one.
“I think as we look at the QB room, we have three good players at the most important position in sports,” Berry said. “That's not to say that there aren't things that we're going to work through over the course of the next several months, but I don't view it as a bad situation at all. We feel like we have three good ones and a lot of teams are still looking for one guy, so you don't mind being deep there and we'll take it as it goes.”
The trade market for the 2018 No. 1 pick is virtually non-existent and moving Mayfield could force the Browns to pay a large chunk of his salary and send a draft pick with him.
“I wouldn't really get into that type of speculation, but the reality of it is, quarterbacks are valuable,” Berry said. “Baker's a good player and you can't have enough good players on your roster. We've already planned to make it work and we'll just see how the next few weeks go, the next few months go.”
The Browns offseason program begins April 18 and Mayfield, who is recovering from surgery in January to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, likely won’t attend.
“That's probably a better question for him,” Berry said. “You know, the programs are voluntary for all of our guys and that's part of what's been collectively bargained, but we feel like all of our guys will be ready.”