Thursday, January 28, 2016

Browns hire Andrew Berry as Personnel Head

The Cleveland Browns finished their front office overhaul with their hiring of Andrew Berry to run their personnel department.

Berry is 28 and has only worked for the Indianapolis Colts since leaving Harvard as a three time Ivy League cornerback.

Now,as soon as you see Harvard on the resume',the easy assumption is "OK,here we go another Ivy League brain to toss on the pile as the Browns continue to try to show that they are the smartest bunch in the room".
However-you would be wrong to think that way.
As mentioned,Berry played four years at Harvard and his background with the Colts was in personnel (more pro scouting than college),so this is not what you could call an "egghead" hire.

The Colts recent drafts have not been impressive,but as noted above,Berry was more instrumental in the pro scouting than college,so I think giving Berry any credit or blame would be an overreach in judgement.
In any event,this is a football person in a football position (which is more than I can say for Sashi Brown at this time) and despite being a little light on the background (who wasn't at 28),Berry seems like a really bright guy that knows far more than numbers about the game.

I'm not saying I love the hire,but considering the constraints of the position placed on it by the Browns,you weren't going to get a person with a long list of successes and if you did hire someone with experience,you were likely going to get a Martin Mayhew type (failure with the Lions and a Browns interviewee).

I'm still filled with mixed thoughts on the revamp.
I love the hire of Hue Jackson as head coach,Paul DePodesta is an interesting hire to say the least and I'm mildly positive on Andrew Berry,but I'm still a bit uneasy on Sashi Brown and I really wish that Alec Scheiner would have gotten the axe.

In the beginning of yet another Browns era starts soon and I'm really interested in seeing just what value this front office has on free agents (keeping and getting from other teams) and especially in the draft.
The players are set-now it's just sitting in our seats and waiting for the curtain to rise....

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