Sportsnaut
In an unexpected moment during his Monday afternoon press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin took some surprising shots at Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry.
“You know, to be honest, it was shocking to me,” Tomlin began by saying. “Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us, because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area. But that’s just my personal feelings.”
Holy Sh*t: Steelers HC Mike Tomlin goes OFF Browns GM Andrew Berry for trading Joe Flacco to the Bengals.
“Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a QB you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division… pic.twitter.com/gsEFaXs1lF
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 13, 2025
The comments come just a day after Tomlin’s Steelers soundly defeated the Browns by a score of 23-9. Pushing Pittsburgh to 4-1 on the season, while Cleveland dropped to 1-5. So why did the coach decide to kick his rivals while they were way down?
Earlier this week, Berry brought Joe Flacco’s second tenure in Cleveland to an end after five games by trading him to the Bengals. It was just the latest move in what has been a volatile QB situation for the Browns under Berry’s watch.
The GM’s decision to give Deshaun Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million deal in 2022 turned out to be one of the worst in NFL history. One because of his consistent issues with his health since arriving in Cleveland, but even when he was healthy, he was the shell of the player who was a multi-time Pro Bowler in Houston.
With Watson expected to miss much of the first half of 2025 after tearing his Achilles tendon last year, Berry confusingly added four new quarterbacks this offseason, including using a pair of draft picks in April on signal callers. Flacco was one of the players the team brought in after he played a role in helping them reach the playoffs in 2023. It is why he was the early choice to be their week one starting QB.
Since Andrew Berry drafted two QBs in the spring, he traded Kenny Pickett a few months after acquiring him in a trade with the Eagles. Unfortunately, Flacco disappointed in his first four starts and was benched last week, and replaced with rookie Dillon Gabriel instead of a proven veteran like Pickett.
With the Bengals badly in need of QB help, the Browns traded Flacco to Cincy earlier this week. Clearly, Mike Tomlin feels the move didn’t make sense, especially since they traded Flacco to a division rival for both the Browns and Steelers.
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