Will the Real Andrew Berry Please Stand Up?

The Browns are driven by numbers.

Indeed, Brownie the Elf is now carrying a football in one hand and a computer and spread sheet in the other. The Browns lead the NFL in at least one way, with time spent, and decadence, on analytics.

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Considering all that, then, with the Browns’ study of everything and anything with the game, on the field and off it, they need to do a deep dive on General Manager Andrew Berry’s efforts in the NFL Draft.

For his first five drafts after being hired on Jan. 28, 2020, he performed like the 2025 Browns offense. It was ugly and oh, so hard to watch each year. Yes, the Browns were crippled by the trade to get quarterback Deshaun Watson — a deal that Berry engineered, by the way — that cost them their first-round draft pick for three straight years, 2022 to ‘24, but even with the selections they did have, he failed miserably.

Then, last year, in 2025, Berry preformed like the defense from that season, being dynamic and operating on all cylinders, hitting on pick after pick after pick. It was outstanding.

So, then, what happened? Why the seismic change? How did Berry go from worst to first in one fell swoop?

Was it as simple as Browns owner Jimmy Haslam holding Berry’s feet to the fire a year ago and, in essence, threatening him with his job, saying, “He knows he has to do better,” or was it something more detailed and complex, or, more probably, was it a combination of both?

The Browns need to figure it out, and the only way to do that is by fact-gathering and doing one of those full-body, analytical deep dives.

The Browns can’t afford to mess up. They need another 2025 draft, not the ones in front of it.

For with a pair of first-round picks this year, including one at No. 6, they have a real opportunity to put an exclamation point to their draft performance of 2025 and have another big haul that can help
reshape the roster exam more.

Determining how they can do it —how they must do it — is crucial. The answer may just lie somewhere in all those numbers.