If we had to put our finger on why ESPN was so negative on the Cleveland Browns in a recent write-up, it'd be easy to see that it's because of GM Andrew Berry. Recently, ESPN published the rankings of all 32 NFL teams and where they are in terms of talent, age-25 and under. The Browns were just 29th, with only one notable "blue-chip prospect" in DT Mason Graham.
Fellow rookies RB Quinshon Judkins, TE Harold Fannin Jr., LB Carson Schwesinger, and QB Dillon Gabriel were also named in the write-up. Non-rookies named include CB Martin Emerson, LB Mohamoud Diabate, LT Dawand Jones, and FS Ronnie Hickman. While some of these names, like Graham, Schwesinger, and Emerson, are going to be leaned on for production this year, guys like Jones were awful in 2024 and aren't expected to play huge roles in 2025.
GM Andrew Berry's Incompetence Plays a Huge Role in Browns' Struggles
The lack of promising young talent can be traced back to Berry's inability to secure talent in the NFL Draft. While we can credit Berry with being a solid GM in free agency with names like Jack Conklin and Joe Flacco, and with trades involving Wyatt Teller and Jerry Jeudy, historically, he's been a bad drafter.
Since coming on in 2020, Berry has had an up-and-down run drafting. From 2020 to 2024, Berry oversaw five drafts and made 36 picks. 17 of those names are still on the team, but most of them are made up of players from the 20223 and 2024 draft classes. Only seven remain from the first three. 11 players from the first five drafts are on other teams, while four remain unsigned following the close of the 2024 season. Another four haven't been signed to a team since 2023 or earlier, making their careers effectively over.
Out of the 36 picks, only one, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, has made a Pro Bowl since being drafted. That's about 2% of all the picks Berry has selected. Now, this doesn't include the 2025 class, as they haven't even taken the field yet. Yet, if the numbers stay the same as we've seen, it's very likely that 63% of the class will be gone in three years.
Now, most drafted players don't last long, but if you look at a team like the Philadelphia Eagles, they have one Pro Bowler from each draft starting in 2020 and going until 2023. While they don't have a Pro Bowler yet from 2024, CB Cooper DeJean should've been based on his play as a rookie.
So, for the Browns to not only have just one Pro Bowler, but just five expected starters from those five classes is atrocious. Granted, the number would be six if Owusu-Koramoah were healthy, but he's not. That means that out of 36 picks, only 16% of Berry's picks actually make a major impact on the team.
That's a little more than one per draft. Now, this wouldn't be so bad if, and only if, the Browns had financial flexibility to make up for Berry's limitations as a drafter.
Yet, with the massive contract to Garrett (which he frankly earned) and Watson (which he never did), there isn't a lot of money to play with. So in order to continue their winning ways, they need to hit on draft picks, as they're less expensive than big-name talent. Yet, they're not hitting on draft picks, so they're over-relying on big-name talent.
It's one of the major reasons so many expect the Browns to struggle in 2025. While they have some big-time talent, the lack of talent under them (especially talent via the draft) is going to hinder the Browns. Now, the 2025 draft class could be an all-time great. It's possible that this draft class could rival that of 2017 and 2018, which saw five men from those two classes go to the Pro Bowl.
That said, the odds aren't in Berry's favor. After all, we are now six years in, and it's clear he doesn't have the eye for talent many thought he did, but optimism is the greatest currency the Browns fandom has right now, and fans are going to keep trading that currency for as long as they can.