Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said the other day that he wasn’t the one who made the decision to select quarterback Shadeur Sanders in the fifth round of the NFL Draft three months ago.

Rather, he pointed out, it was General Manager Andrew Berry’s call.

Hmmm.

OK.

I understand — I really do — why Haslam said it. Berry is the one who should be making the picks, and he wants to protect him in that role. That’s admirable. I would have done the same thing if I were in Haslam’s shoes. It is the right thing to do if you’re the guy running the team and you want to have harmony in the building. Any other kind of comment would have caused problems.

But at the same time — and let’s be clear on this — I don’t believe it. I don’t think for even a second that it was Berry’s call, at least not of his own volition. He was forced — he was strongly encouraged — to do it by Haslam. If your boss, especially your big boss, asks you to do something, then you do it, no questions asked.

But the non-repairable hole in Haslam’s assertion is the look on the faces of Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski when they were shown in the team’s draft room immediately after the pick was made. It appeared for all the world as if someone had just stuck a lemon into their mouths. It was the first time in the history of television sports that team officials in the draft room were not smiling, laughing, hugging and exchanging high-fives after making a high-profile pick.

No matter how much the Browns, at first Stefanski and now, in effect, Haslam try to downplay that telling scene, they can’t.

So, then, instead of continuing to circle back to that moment to recount how Sanders arrived in Cleveland, let’s start a narrative as to how he can succeed and look like the guy who dazzled defenses in college.

Steve King

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