This isn’t Berry’s first go-around in Cleveland. From 2016 to 2018, he served as the Browns’ vice president of player personnel, during which time, the team went 8-39. This dismal span includes a single-win season in 2016 and the infamous “oh-for” season of 2017; by far the most embarrassing stretch of the Browns’ almost 80-year history.
Having played a key part in such a humiliating chapter, it came as a surprise to some when Berry was brought back to Cleveland to serve as the new general manager in 2020. Since stepping into the role, the Browns have gone 40-44, better than during Berry’s first stint, but still nothing to brag about.
In addition to a sub-500 win rate, Berry’s tenure as the Browns’ GM has been marred by controversy. After his second year on the job, where the team went an unimpressive 8-9, Berry made a decision that would live forever in Browns fans’ nightmares. Even though they already had fan favorite Baker Mayfield on their roster, the decision was made to trade for Deshaun Watson who was, and still is, mired in legal controversies.
The Deshaun Watson Disaster Under Berry's Watch
This Faustian deal came at a high price. In this unholy arrangement, the Browns received Watson and a sixth-round pick, while the Texans received three first-round picks and three fourth-round picks. What’s more, Watson’s new contract with the Browns would be a fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million deal, making it the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history at the time of the signing.
Not only did this prompt Mayfield to ask for a trade, but with so much cap space devoted to Deshaun’s deal, Berry and the Browns were betting the entire future of the franchise on this expensive quarterback switcheroo. It would be an understatement to say that things did not go as Berry had planned.
After sitting out the first 11 games of the 2022 season as a result of his off-field allegations, Deshaun Watson finally took the field to prove that Berry’s gamble was worth the risk. In his Week 13 debut, Watson posted the worst passer rating of his NFL career at 53.4. Since then, things have only gone from bad to worse.
After playing only six games in the 2023 season, Watson was sidelined with a shoulder injury and missed the remainder of the year. 2024 was even worse. Deshaun started the season 1-6 before suffering a season-ending Achilles tear. Under Berry’s leadership, Deshaun Watson’s nine total wins have come at a price tag of about $25.5 million per victory. Baker Mayfield, however, after finding a new home in Tampa, has led the Bucs to the playoffs two years in a row.
An Uncertain Future in Cleveland
Somehow, despite all this, and several wasteful draft busts, the Browns extended Berry’s contract in June of 2024 just before the team would go on to post a league-worst record of 3-14.
After the organization finally admitted that the Deshaun Watson experiment was an unmitigated disaster, Berry took drastic action to try and save his job. In this year’s draft, the team took two rookie quarterbacks in the hopes that one of them could make up for past failures.
If this season doesn’t prove to be a renaissance for the Browns, the blame will fall heavily upon Andrew Berry. With such a long history of missteps, 2025 could be his last chance to keep his job in Cleveland. If Berry is shown the door, it's likely that coach Kevin Stefanski will suffer the same. If or when this happens, the 2026 Browns, with the two first-round draft picks, a new coach (Deion Sanders?) and a new GM, could look completely different from anything we’ve seen before.