SO, WHAT DOES THIS GUY DO?

By STEVE KING

For me at least, the most interesting and fascinating – by far – part of Wednesday’s Browns press conferences was the one with Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta.

Everyone has wondered, “What the heck does this guy do, and how much of a role does he have?”

That was answered by him in two different ways.

The first was just an overall assessment of his job.

“My kids ask me the same question because they want to tell people at school, ‘What is it that you actually do?’ ” DePodesta said.

“Look, (new Browns head coach) Kevin (Stefanski) talked a lot today about a shared vision. I think my role really first and foremost, is to not only help us create but also implement that shared vision and then ultimately make sure that we stick to it, really relentlessly, and that is really my role. I look at all the processes that are within a football operation.

“Whether that, again, is hiring someone, whether that is how we do scouting, whether it is how we look at things with numbers. I sort of dig into all those processes and make sure that they align with our vision and that we all as a group continue to stay aligned and be on the same page, as Kevin said.”

Here is how DePodesta described his role for the team in the NFL Draft:

“It is a process-oriented role. I am not going to pick the players, but I am going to try to make sure the players we do pick, again, align with our vision of what we believe is a winning franchise.

“I have had the opportunity to be around some great organizations in multiple sports and one thing that is pretty clear across all of them is that they all have an identity, a way. You hear about ‘The Patriot Way’ or back in the day, ‘The Dodger Way,’ or whatever it might be. The teams that are great are relentless about implementing that way. That is what we need to do here, and that really is my charge.

“My charge is not to watch tape and say, ‘Oh man, this guy has got real good feet.’ We have got scouts that are way better and way more qualified to do that than I am to do that. But when we come down to make a selection, it is my role to say, ‘OK, are we making a decision that actually aligns with our way and that makes sense?’ ”