Browns: Andrew Berry believes he invested in the 2020 defense

The Cleveland Browns have made it a point to invest in the defense for 2021, but GM Andrew Berry thinks he already did that in 2020.

The Cleveland Browns revamped their defense from 2019 and let three of the defensive team’s five best players leave in free agency. Three players, who it turns out, would’ve helped shore up the issues with the defense from this past season. Two stellar linebackers and a defensive back with the skills to play any position in the secondary.

Yet they were replaced by a bunch of one-year-rentals, and players who never panned out. The obvious scenario did indeed happen, and the obvious scenario was what cost them a shot at the AFC Championship; the defense sucked.

GM Andrew Berry agrees the defense sucked,

"…We think we can certainly boost the defense as we go into 2021."

Which is great. Yet, he fails to understand or at least take ownership of the fact that his decisions destroyed the defense.

"It is a fair observation to realize that the resources this past year that we had going into this past fall were predominantly oriented to support the offense and support the quarterback, but that does not mean that we did not make some investments all across the team."

Filling holes with obviously bad players equates to “some investments”?

No one is going to defend Berry for his decisions regarding the defense. Every defensive rookie drafted played poorly or underachieved in the case of Jacob Phillips. If they even played at all (Grant Delpit). The free-agent signings were either stop gaps or experiments. The only real “investment” was the new deal Myles Garrett got. It’s too early to say whether that deal will haunt the team or if it was a bargain.

To say any of that equates to “making investments” is foolish and short-sighted. Berry has got to do a better job on defense this year. He took a Top-10 team against the pass in 2019 and turned them into a Bottom-10 team against the pass.

In fact, they didn’t really improve against the rush, either. The Browns caught breaks against the Bengals and Steelers, who both had bad years rushing the football. The Ravens also didn’t do much in the first game against the Browns rushing wise, at least, not compared to their rematch. The teams that torched the Browns in 2019 weren’t the same teams in 2020, which allowed the Browns to avoid the statistical nightmares. Plus, they often played with a lead, making it unlikely a team would rush as much.

The Browns still got torched in 2020.

Berry needs to realize he did this team no favors and not pretend that he did. The defense needs probably seven or eight new starters at least. That’s some serious investment. Not like what he did in 2020.