It’s been a big week for the Cleveland Browns off the field. Just as he’s done with several other big moves and decisions this offseason, new Browns GM Andrew Berry once again proved he’s off to a very impressive start.
The biggest splash is the most important one. Berry reached a deal with the team’s best player, Myles Garrett, on a massive new contract extension. Garrett will earn $125 million, including $100 million guaranteed, with his new deal. The defensive end is one of the NFL’s rising stars and most devastating pass rushers, and he’s just 24. Now he’ll be in Cleveland until at least 2027.
Garrett made the equation a little more complicated with his actions in Pittsburgh last season. Getting an indefinite suspension with six games to go and the Browns still not completely out of the postseason picture, in what should have been a tremendous triumph over a hated rival on national television, required some forbearance from the team. Berry and the Browns have put their faith in Garrett’s overriding character, choosing to believe the man they know as a whole is more valuable than the crazed worst moment of his career.
In doing so now, the Browns insured against Garrett’s price tag going up if he comes even close to his stated — and quite realistic — goal of winning Defensive Player of the Year and leading the franchise into the playoffs and beyond. There is indeed some risk that Garrett loses his cool once again and both sides lose everything here, but it’s a risk Berry and the Browns couldn’t afford not to take.
Getting the entire draft class signed before the onset of training camp isn’t nearly as big of a deal as it would have been a few years ago. The salaries and terms are almost entirely predetermined based on the rookie wage scale, after all. But Berry and the Browns were the first to lock up their entire class when safety Grant Delpit signed on Wednesday.
It’s that sort of dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s that hasn’t always been the case with Cleveland’s front offices. Then there is the restraint and discipline shown in the team’s pursuit of free agent pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney.
Numerous reports indicate the Browns made a very rich offer to Clowney, the highest he’s received this offseason. Clowney balked, for whatever reason — it doesn’t really matter here. What does matter is that Berry and the Browns let it go. They didn’t keep negotiating against themselves for a player who would be a nice addition but not necessarily worthwhile bang for the considerable buck it would cost.
Just as they did when opting to let Pro Bowl LB Joe Schobert leave in free agency, this front office stuck to its guns and it’s budget parameters. Paying Schobert what Jacksonville spent to lure him would have major implications down the road, and the team’s diminishing emphasis on the LB position simply did not justify it. Past regimes might have kowtowed to the pressure to keep one of the team’s top players, the cost be damned, but this group didn’t bite that forbidden fruit.
He appears to have learned from his predecessors and prior bosses. Sashi Brown was too coolly analytical and distant, failing to grasp the urgency to win for players, coaches and fans. John Dorsey was too impetuous as well as too overconfident in his personnel evaluations.
We won’t know if it all works until the games begin. And the Browns have had impressive offseasons before, only to fall flat when success started to get measured by wins and losses on the field. The Berry braintrust has put a great deal of faith in a rookie head coach and a young QB coming off a rough sophomore slump.
Those decisions will weigh heavily in the ending evaluation of Berry, VP of Football Operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Senior Advisor Ryan Grigson and the front office. But it’s very hard to find fault with their first few months on the job in Cleveland. There’s a definite, tangible feeling of competence and diligence that hasn’t been there in some time.