Sources: Browns to make Andrew Berry youngest GM in NFL history
Nearly one month after parting ways with John Dorsey, the Cleveland Browns are finalizing their next general manager.
In a move that has been long-envisioned by some inside the Browns organization, sources tell Yahoo Sports the team is close to finalizing a five-year agreement with Philadelphia Eagles vice president of football operations Andrew Berry to become Cleveland’s next general manager.
Berry will take control of Cleveland’s 53-man roster just months shy of his 33rd birthday, making him the youngest GM in NFL history and completing an overhaul of the franchise that included hiring Kevin Stefanski as head coach earlier this month. The move would also make Berry the second African American general manager currently in the NFL, joining the Miami Dolphins’ Chris Grier.
A team source tells Yahoo the Browns favored Berry for the position since splitting with Dorsey in late December, but team owner Jimmy Haslam wanted to explore a handful of other candidates before making a decision. Prior to reaching an agreement with Berry, the Browns conducted two interviews with Minnesota Vikings assistant general manager George Paton and also interviewed New England Patriots college scouting director Monti Ossenfort.
The hiring of Berry will be a homecoming of sorts, bringing him back into the fold after he served as Cleveland’s vice president of player personnel from 2016-2018. Berry departed the franchise after the 2018 season to take a higher ranking executive position with the Eagles in 2019. Prior to joining the Browns in 2016, Berry served in multiple scouting roles with the Indianapolis Colts from 2009-2015. A graduate of Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in computer science, Berry was a four-year starting cornerback for the Crimson before heading into personnel with the Colts.
After years of warring between the executive and coaching branches of the organization, Berry’s hiring is expected to align the building beneath Haslam, putting the general manager, head coach and chief strategist on the same page. That alignment will have significant depth in analytics, with Berry, Stefanski and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta all having backgrounds leaning into that effort.
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