Dawgs By Nature
Is Cleveland in need of another receiver?
When the Cleveland Browns hired Andrew Berry away from the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020 to become their new General Manager, he was given the keys to the franchise. Part of his job duties is to oversee the college draft in April, sign free agents, re-sign existing players to new agreements, and deal with every portion of the roster.
That means that every player on the team deals with Berry regarding contracts. There are a few players on the current roster who are not a by-product of Berry’s choosing, but the vast majority are being paid by the Browns because Berry personally picked them.
He found second-round talent Martin Emerson, Jr. in the third round. He decided to ditch Baker Mayfield and trade for Deshaun Watson. He signed Jack Conklin to anchor the offensive line. He kept Denzel Ward after another concussion. He used a fourth-round pick on kicker Cade York. He gave the roster a capable backup QB each season with Casey Keenum, Jacoby Brissett, Joe Flacco, and Jameis Winston. He drafted Jedrick Wills instead of four-time Pro Bowler Tristan Wirfs. He found Dawand Jones. He selected this year’s leading tackler Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and last year’s leading tackler Grant Delpit.
One tendency that Berry has so far is the habit of grabbing a defensive back and a wide receiver in every draft. Here’s a list of the receivers he has selected to date:
2020: Round 6 – Donovan Peoples-Jones
2021: Round 3 – Anthony Schwartz
2022: Round 3 – David Bell, Round 6 – Michael Woods
2023: Round 3 – Cedric Tillman
2024: Round 5 – Jamari Thrash
Not exactly a glowing list, but the majority of drafts have been without first-round draft picks due to the Watson trade and even some second-round spots vacated due to other trades.
Another practice is Berry’s propensity to trade for wide receivers. This tendency he has performed for the past three years. Perhaps since his draft prowess selecting receivers hasn’t been that great he compensates for his draft process ineptness by trading for players who already have a track record of production:
2022: Amari Cooper – Dallas Cowboys got a 2022 fifth-round pick and a swap of 2022 sixth-rounders
2023: Elijah Moore – New York Jets got 2023 second-round selection, Browns get player plus 2023 third-round pick
2024: Jerry Jeudy – Denver Broncos got 2024 fifth and sixth-round choices
A quick glance at the Browns current receiver room looks like this:
Free agents include Moore, James Proche (kick returner), Kaden Davis, Jaelen Gill, and Tony Brown (special teams ace). Of these players, Moore stands out the most because Berry traded out of valuable second-round pick for...
