Dawgs By Nature
A look at the last five Browns NFL draft, the good and the bad
The Cleveland Browns hired Andrew Berry as their new general manager on January 27, 2020. He had been with Cleveland from 2016-2018 as the vice president of player personnel before moving on to the Philadelphia Eagles as their vice president of football operations. The Browns called and inked him to the GM position one year later.
Browns head coach Hue Jackson had been fired in late October to which DC Gregg Williams took over but was passed over for the vacancy. The new head coach, Kevin Stefanski, was hired on January 13 by team owner Jimmy Haslam so that was one less thing for Berry to do right off.
Taking care of existing players and deciding which ones to re-sign took priority. Then, it was time to focus on free agency and a short month later the NFL draft.
The NFL college draft is the best avenue to build a roster into a competitive team. Contracts are salary cap-friendly, especially in the later stages of the agreement. Along with a productive free agency period, this process is also an essential portion of roster building.
Berry has now drafted five years for Cleveland. The 2025 NFL draft period will be his sixth. The Browns finished the 2024 season tied for the worst record in the league at 3-14-0 and it is Berry’s player signings that provide the coaching staff what they need for the franchise’s product on the field.
Every draft determines what that club’s future will become. With three years’ worth of players selected in rounds 1-4, that accounts for 34% of the roster. The odds only grow with the addition of several Day 3 draft picks.
On the current roster are numerous young athletes who Berry drafted to not just compete for a job, but to come in and become a starter. On the flipside, there are other players that have come and gone who did not develop as the scouts predicted and are playing for another NFL club, in the CFL or UFL, or out of football completely.
Now that Berry has had five years of running the NFL draft for the Browns, how has he done with his decisions? He has drafted a total of 37 players. Excluding the 2024 draft class, there are 15 players still on the roster with some being nominal performers such as WRs David Bell and Michael Woods, C Nick Harris, CB Cam Mitchell, and DE Alex Wright.
With those 37 draftees, Berry’s draft selections have garnered the following accolades:
Let’s take a look at this “Draft Edition” of Brownies & Frownies.
S Grant Delpit (drafted in 2020) – The talented safety has been a roller...
