BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Who says Andrew Berry doesn’t have a sense of humor?
After thanking scouts and other members of the organization for their work leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft, Berry dropped a zinger in turning things over to reporters.
“I’ll open it up for questions for everybody's favorite press conference where you ask questions and I barely answer them, but we'll try and do our best this year,” Berry joked.
You just have to respect the honesty there.
With that, here’s a look at the best eight Brownie Bites in honor of their eight picks in the upcoming NFL Draft from Berry Friday.
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1. Berry was understandably mum on defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey’s legal issues following an arrest in Texas where Winfrey is accused of misdemeanor assault and placing a tracking device on the alleged victim’s vehicle. “That's a pending legal matter,” Berry said. “I won’t comment specifically on that other than to say that Perrion understands what really our expectations for are for all players, whether they're on the field in our building or away from the building. But with it being a pending legal matter, I'm not going to comment too much on it.” Winfrey remains with the team and is participating in the offseason program. “We haven't made any changes in terms of his roster status or anything like that, but I'm not going to say anything further,” Berry said.
2. This is the second year the Browns will make the first selection in Round 3. Last year they traded out of the second round during the draft. Berry got a jump on doing it again this year when he traded for Jets receiver Elijah Moore. Berry filled multiple holes in free agency, especially the defensive line. “Certainly free agency is about filling immediate needs. The draft, we look at it as more longer term planning and ultimately trying to maximize talent,” Berry said. “And I think especially when you're in the situation that we are in where we're picking later in the draft respectively, it's not like we can really dictate it. When you're at the top of the draft, you can dictate it to a degree. And so I think it's important for us to be really to remain flexible and make sure that our first priority is maximizing the talent we can add to the team.”
3. Berry is a horse over geese kinda guy when it comes his conversations with his scouts and evaluation of players. “We always talk about horses versus goose,” Berry said. “A goose, it can walk, it can fly, it can run, but it kind of waddles when it walks, it doesn't really fly really high and it doesn't run real fast. A horse, it can't swim, it can't fly. But it's a really great runner and it's like, OK, if we were talking about players, we would take horse traits, we call them horse straits. Because it's like, OK, hey, if we're putting together a roster, we'd ideally like a player that can be above average in some way, even if it's a very narrow sense. Because then when you put together the team, the aggregate allows you to maybe cover the skillset you have. And maybe a perfect example of that would be in the receiver room. Marquis Goodwin, he's a smaller guy, but he's got elite speed and really good tracking ability. Donovan People-Jones, he's a bigger, stronger receiver, maybe not quite as fast as some of the others, but he's got great hands and great size. And you can combine those skill sets within that position group and give yourself enough diversity in the offense to execute a number of different concepts.”
4. The Browns plan to add more defensive ends before training camp. They currently have five on the roster. “I would expect us to add more than that,” Berry said. “We're going to get to 90 eventually. I can't say if that's going to be on draft weekend or in May or in August, but I would expect us to add to that room.” Adding a veteran is also on the table. “I wouldn't rule out anything,” Berry said. “One thing I've been pretty consistent about is that any way that we can acquire someone who can help the team that we’ll be open minded to it as long as it matches our priorities and it matches the resources we have at our disposal.”
5. Kareem Hunt is as good as gone but Berry just won’t come out and say it. “I don't know that we've necessarily shut the door on anything,” Berry said. “I mean we're not playing games until September, so we'll remain open-minded to anything that can help the team. We like the room that we have. Obviously Nick leads it, pleased with Jerome's progress over the last year and John Kelly, McCreary, Demetric taking reps there, we feel like we have a variety of skillsets. That wouldn't exclude us from adding someone this upcoming weekend at that position, but we just got to see how the board shakes out.”
6. Berry also won’t say if they are exercising the fifth-year option on left tackle Jedrick Wills’ rookie contract, but they are. “I don't really talk about contracts or those decisions in this setting,” Berry said. “You guys will certainly know before May 2nd, and we're pleased with Jed.”
7. With eight selections between rounds three through eight, would Berry take a shot in the dark at a player? “I don't know that I would think of our roster status as being so unique that we would pivot significantly from the type of risks that we think are appropriate at certain rounds versus not,” Berry said.
8. Of Berry’s previous 24 draft picks, only one is no longer with the organization. Do the Browns really have room to keep eight draft picks on their 53? “Yes, if they perform,” Berry said, “but I think each year's a little bit different in that regard and honestly, who knows, you get wiped out because of injury in camp or a guy surprises you in either direction, it may change how you think about adding youth to the roster. So we don't really go into it with the mentality of, OK, can seven or eight guys make the team? How does that dictate the draft strategy? And look, I mean last year we entered the draft with, I believe, seven picks and ended up with nine. There are some years that we start off with seven and ended up with six. So I think a lot can happen between certainly now and the end of the weekend, but also now and the start of the season.”