BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The NFL Draft is a week away, which means executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry got to hold court for his annual pre-Draft oppress conference.
Here’s the top Brownie Bites from Thursday.
Missing you – This marks the final year of the Browns sending picks to the Texans for Deshaun Watson and being without a first rounder as this year Cleveland’s first and fourth rounder will complete the trade. “Look, you want as many picks, as many high picks as possible,” Berry said. “I wouldn't say that I miss it on Thursday or Friday night. I'm probably more focused on the players we can acquire and they're not necessarily the end all be all. They're a great resource to have, but how you can deploy them can be in a variety of ways.” Berry emphasized the lack of a first round pick hasn’t changed their approach to the draft. “It really hasn't been that different in terms of how we prepare,” Berry said. “Where it's probably been the most different is It's just been a slower Thursday night, but in terms of how we think about building the board or how we think about evaluating prospects or managing our picks, that really hasn't fundamentally changed.” Berry was asked how he felt the Browns have weathered not having those first round picks in the wake of the Watson trade with Houston. “Time will tell. I think that there are a variety of ways to build a team,” Berry said. “We saw, I think the Rams this week, if they keep their first round pick, it's the first round pick that they'll have in the Sean McVay era. I also think the reality of the first-round picks like the league hit rate, it's like 50%. They're lottery tickets, they're good lottery tickets at the end of the day and they're highly, highly valuable. But even if you have a first round pick, it's certainly not a certain thing. So I think maybe having a level of realism in terms of what can be achieved with your pool of resources or your assets, that's really part of it. But we've been pretty systematic in terms of how we were going to deploy our picks, our dollars. How we were going to manufacture picks to make it up with volume. So we feel pretty good about where the roster sits today, but look, we are looking forward to having one back next year for sure.”
Use a 2 – Not only have the Browns not picked in the first round the last 2 years, but they haven’t picked in the second round either after Berry traded out of the round. Could he do it again? “I will probably have a better feel once we get to 10 picks out,” Berry said. “It really just depends on how the board falls if I'm being truthful. So I'm not sure as we sit here today, but we'll see if we can break the trend of making it three years in a row without a second round pick.”
Staying flexible – With only two picks in the top 150 this year, the odds Berry will be able to maneuver around the board like he has in year’s past aren’t as strong as they normally are but that won’t keep him from being aggressive. “It's obviously less flexible than if you have your full slate of picks, but that doesn't mean that you can't manage your resources creatively to whether it's to increase the volume or increase the quality,” Berry said. “So a large part of it will depend on what's available and what dance partners we may or may not have.”
Watching Watson – Deshaun Watson’s rehab and work this offseason will be closely watched and his progress documented step-by-step. Such is the case when six draft pics and $230 million are on the line and Watson has only been able to play in just 12 games as a Brown his first two seasons. “This week, Deshaun was throwing up to 40 yards,” Berry said. “He's in a pretty good spot. Again, I don't want to put the cart in front of the horse, but he's progressing as appropriate. We're really, really pleased with the work that he's put in and really pleased with how the shoulder's responding, but we're still in the middle of a rehab process, so we know that it can take different left and right turns, but we're pretty optimistic in terms of what we've seen so far.” Watson recently said he would be ready for Week 1, but Berry did not want to put that in stone. “We feel really good about it,” Berry said. “I'm not going to make any predictions, just because you just never know. But that's certainly our expectation.”
Trade bait – Cornerback Greg Newsome II, who is in the final year of his rookie contract, has been mentioned in trade rumors and speculation this offseason. “I want as many good corners as possible,” Berry said. “We have, going back to my point about the league playing in 11 personnel, I always [feel] -- your base offense and defense is really more three receivers and three corners in this day and age. So that's really how we think about it. Even though we are technically a 4-3, how many snaps will you realistically see us play in base? Not very many over the course of the season, so corner is a premium position. We have three guys who can play press man coverage at a very, very, very high level. That's not a skillset that I'm looking to give away.” Berry quickly sidestepped a question about extending Newsome. “I won't touch on contracts, as you know,” Berry said.
Hit the ground running – Berry provided some good news concerning Nick Chubb’s rehab. “He's really attacked it very aggressively, really since he's been able to in the fall,” Berry said. “He's going at a good pace. It's still early. He actually started running on land this past week. That's not to say that he's through the woods or anything, but he's doing everything in his power. He's progressing appropriately, but certainly the next few weeks, next few months will be big as we continue to increase the load that he's able to put on his knee, and then how much he's ultimately able to do during his training.” Chubb, who underwent two surgeries to repair damage suffered to his left knee in Week 2, recently agreed to restructure the final year of his contract, significantly lowering his guaranteed money and cap hit this year. “I think people think it's easy for a club and agent to be adversarial, and with Nick's situation, I really applaud Nick and then his reps, Todd France and A.J. Stevens for being really collaborative partners and finding a solution that worked for everybody,” Berry said. “I think everybody in this room is happy that Nick is back as a Cleveland Brown and we're very optimistic that he's going to crush the rehab.”
The picks – Round 2, No. 54; Round 3, No. 85; Round 5, No. 156; Round 6, No. 206; Round 7: Nos 227 and 243.
