CLEVELAND — How will the Cleveland Browns make personnel decisions now that they have reshaped the coaching staff and front office for the fifth time under the ownership of Dee and Jimmy Haslam?
That question has been asked in many ways, and new general manager Andrew Berry did his best to quell any of the doubts or concerns among fans that the Browns are going back to the same analytics-based philosophy that led to a 1-31 record over the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
“We will be a scouting-centered front office,” Berry said during his introductory press conference at team headquarters Wednesday.
“I’ve always believed and continue to believe scouting to be the lifeblood of roster building in the NFL, but we also are going to incorporate information, research and insights into our decision-making.”
Berry views the Browns’ personnel men who are on the road every week during the football season to scout college players as be a vital piece of the information-gathering process.
“It’s probably a bit of a misconception that scouting wasn’t valued,” Berry said of his first stint with the Browns from 2016-2018. “I would take exception to that. I think Sashi (Brown) was one of the strongest proponents of scouts.
“Scouting-centered means we’re really going to value the opinions of our experts who go on the road on the college side, who know the NFL, who know the league on the pro side. They’re going to carry a very, very heavy weight in how we make player decisions.”
Berry’s vision for the team is the scouting department and analytics team to work in concert with the coaching staff to pick the players that best fit the needs of the roster and will be long-term contributors to the successful turnaround of the franchise.
“The reality of it is, that stretch was a very painful period for our fans, for the city and for everybody internally in the organization,” Berry said. “I can assure you that all of us there during that time period were equally disappointed with the results.
“The team, the organization is at a much different state than it was heading into that 2016 season, whether it’s the foundation of the roster, the overall strategy. It’s no secret the strategy was to accumulate assets, whether it was cap space or picks and players that were the foundation to long-term success.”
Berry is tasked with turning around the fortunes of a franchise with a 17-year playoff drought and 12-season streak of sub .500 records. The 2017 Browns completed only the second winless 16-game season in NFL history.
Berry is very much looking forward to writing a much different script for 2020 and beyond.
“Winning is at the forefront of everyone’s minds in the organization, and we’re looking forward to pursuing that over the next several months,” Berry said.
“There are definitely a lot of young, core pieces at key spots. We certainly have a young foundation on which to build, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have work to do and it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to add competition and talent really across every position.”