Browns hire Andrew Berry as GM

The Cleveland Browns unveiled the worst kept secret in the NFL as the team announced the hiring of Andrew Berry to a five-year contract.

Berry had previously worked in the Browns front office before moving to the Philadelphia Eagles last season as their vice president of football operations and was regarded as the prohibitive favorite to grab the general manager position as soon as the Paul DePodesta faction moved John Dorsey aside and re-established power in the Cleveland front office.

The 32-year-old Berry was a favorite of Jimmy Haslam when Berry was hired by the Browns as part of the Sashi Brown/Paul DePodesta front office takeover before the 2016 season and is well-liked in league circles, even by those that disagree with his football operational theories.
The Browns interviewed two other candidates and Minnesota's George Paton appeared to have a chance due to his relationship with Kevin Stefanski, but Paton apparently could see either (or both) of these issues occurring as either Berry had the job locked up or Paton could see the dysfunction of the Browns scheme and figured he was going to have a difficult time succeeding.

I do wonder about this and I don't have an answer, but is it possible that the "alignment" that Jimmy Haslam is searching for already off-kilter?
George Paton likely wouldn't have even considered the Browns had Kevin Stefanski not been hired as head coach and could Stefanski have pushed for Paton, lost out to DePodesta's choice in Berry causing alignment problems before the car has been driven off the lot?
I don't have the answer, but considering that just as in the case of hiring Kevin Stefanski as the coach, the hire of Andrew Berry was seemingly decided from the start, so why did Stefanski push for Paton to be interviewed?

I'm not thrilled with this hire, but it didn't take a lot of foresight to see the result of yet another Browns "extensive search" ending with Andrew Berry.
I'm not saying Berry is inept, but he was a key part of 1-31 and even though Berry cannot be blamed entirely for the questionable drafts during his previous tenure, he certainly was involved with some of the worst drafts in the team's history and that covers a lot of ground!
Only five of the twenty-four players drafted in those drafts were on the 2019 Browns and I have a problem handing the keys to the car to people that drafted so poorly.
Boosters of Paul DePodesta state that "DePodesta won't be involved in evaluating personnel", which I'm not sure that I believe, but hiring Andrew Berry with his accomplishments reading " was part of the evaluation team that passed over several franchise quarterbacks, was part of the team that thought Kenny Britt was an elite receiver, drafted Corey Coleman over Michael Thomas, drafted three starters out of twenty-four draft picks, and won one of thirty-two games" seems like yet another Jimmy Haslam/Cleveland Browns need to show that they are the smartest guys in the room when the results to date indicate arguably the inverse.

If you are a reader of history and look back to the American involvement in Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson believed so heavily in the Kennedy cabinet holdovers that were telling him to stay involved, escalate and that victory was around the corner if he just stayed the course.
Those people were called by Johnson as "My Harvard's" and because they had Ivy League educations with Johnson's degree coming from Southwest Texas State Teachers College and Johnson always felt an inferiority complex towards them.
Johnson thought because they were better educated that they knew what they were talking about and were suited for their job and because of that feeling of inferiority, Johnson listened to and retained people that were giving him the wrong advice.
I have a feeling that Jimmy Haslam thinks similarly towards Paul DePodesta and Andrew Berry (and formerly Sashi Brown) because, in his eyes, their education makes them smarter and worth listening to.
One's education doesn't always make one suited for a particular vocation and perhaps the above theory is the most plausible one for why the gentlemen involved in 1-31 are about to get the ball back for a second try.
Hopefully, the Browns will find more success the second time around.