But it didn’t. All last week everyone in the Browns organization was supposed to be fired. Everyone. Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski, Jimmy Haslam (really?) and Paul DePodesta. To be honest with you I don’t think of DePodesta until some paranoid Browns fan brings up his name. The facility in Berea would have empty offices, the fans and the media were going to run the team, because after all they know best. It’s simple, I’ll just run it like a fantasy football team. Forget that NFL teams are billion-dollar businesses. Forget how complicated contracts and the salary cap are. Forget you can’t fire an owner. What fans saw on Sunday was one team playing for their head coach and another team who’s given up on their head coach. Can you guess which one was which? If you’re honest with yourself you can.
Let’s start with Andrew Berry. Prior to this year he’s been average, but that’s right where the league is. The success rate of GMs in the NFL is about 48%, based on a study from 2020 to 2024. But this year, with a full complement of draft picks, Berry has been top tier. He’s also added undrafted rookies who are contributing. In free agency, signing Malik Collins was genius. To top it off, he’s made the Jaguar’s GM look foolish in two trades. Before you try and based your argument on individual draft picks from the past to try and prove your point. Jedrick Wills was drafted because Bill Callahan wanted him, Sika Ika was drafted because Jim Schwartz wanted him and David Bell was drafted because Stefanski wanted him. As I said earlier, Berry’s been average prior to this year.
Kevin Stefanski still has the locker room. Yes, sometimes he calls plays that make up scratch your head. Against Miami there were a few. I wish he would get rid of the tight screen for a while, it isn’t working. He did get creative with the wildcat close to the goal line and it worked. But I’ve seen other so called great coaches call bad games. Explain to me how Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur thought it was smart to snap the ball on third and one with time running out in the third quarter only to have his quarterback sacked forcing a punt. Or how Mike Tomlin is 2-9 on Thursday night with an eight-game losing streak to divisional rivals. He’s lost four of those games to the Browns. When the Browns are leading at halftime at home, Kevin Stefanski is 32-5. This team has beaten teams by 25 points four times since 1999, three of those were under Stefanski.
As for Jimmy Haslam and Paul Depodesta, like I said you can’t fire the owner. He’s let Berry do his thing. He’s also given Berry and Stefanski a pass on the Watson deal because of his own involvement. He’s said so himself. As for DePodesta, he collects data, that’s all he does. He makes no discissions and he’s not a puppet master pulling strings in the background. Who knows, he may have provided data telling the team NOT to trade for Watson. Basically, if you don’t know what someone’s jobs is, why bring them up. Besides, for the last five years his main concern has been the new stadium.
Finally, I really don’t see Dillion Gabriel being benched anytime soon, despite what a certain radio host says. And he’s a radio host, not an insider. Gabriel’s first three games were quite difficult, and he wasn’t the reason the Browns lost two. As he gets more comfortable, he’ll get better. All he needed to do Sunday was not be the reason the Browns lost, mission accomplished. I’m still hoping the only one fired after the season will be Bubba Ventrone, way too many yards on returns by the Dolphins. Stay safe and GO Browns.