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PALM BEACH, Fla. — For the better part of three days, they talked amongst the palm trees and exclusivity of one of South Florida's most exclusive resorts. The NFL's biggest decision makers all gathered together to establish the path the league will take going forward during the annual meetings.
That group included some of the biggest decision makers in the Browns organization — owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, as well as general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski.
All four of them were made available to a small handful of Browns beat writers, including the Beacon Journal, over the course of the meetings. Those conversations, nearly 90 combined minutes, covered a variety of topics, including the upcoming draft, last year's disappointing season and even the Deshaun Watson trade.
With a couple of days time to marinate on everything that was said, here's a few big takeaways:
There's an assumption that this upcoming season would be the final one for Berry and/or Stefanski if the Browns fail to show significant improvement. That may be true if it turns into a complete disaster.
However, listening to the Haslams speak Monday, everything that was said seemed to indicate a willingnesss to want to allow the two the opportunity to fix the situation. While Jimmy Haslam did say, "Andrew needs to do better in personnel, Kevin needs to better at coaching," he also finished that sentence by saying, "we have high confidence in those two guys. We really do."
It wasn't just that statement, either. There was another answer given by Jimmy Haslam to the direct question: "What are your thoughts and expectations on winning in 2025?"
"Well, you have to be realistic," he said. "In terms of the cap, we don't have unlimited space. so that's going to limit you in free agency. We do have a lot of draft picks. They'll be rookies and it takes a year or two, but we're going to try to win this year. We're not expecting another 3-14 year and our expectations are high. But you all know the NFL is tough. It's hard to win games. We know that better than anybody else, but we're going to really get after it this coming year. I mean, nobody wants to go through what we did last year."
Does that mean something couldn't happen to lead the Haslams to change their minds? Certainly, something could happen.
Does that mean another losing season means a change? Not necessarily, and here's another reason why beyond just those comments.
There's been a lot of time and energy exerted by people talking or writing about the Browns' quarterback situation. In case you didn't know, Kenny Pickett is the de facto starter for the Browns right now since he's the only healthy one on the roster.
There's a rightful assumption that a quarterback will be drafted at some point later this month. There's also the rightful assumption another veteran will be brought in as well.
Will any of them be the solution? There's a good chance they won't.
That's especially true with the No. 2 overall pick.
This question was asked of Jimmy Haslam: How vitally important is it for you guys to perhaps find your quarterback of the future in this draft? What do you think? Do you think he is there maybe even at No. 2 and how important is that decision?
His response: "If you had the No. 1 pick, you could say, OK, we know what we're going to do. When you're No. 2, you don't control your own destiny. I think Andrew told you all last night, he did not see us trading up. So it would be great if we could get the quarterback, but we're not going to force it. We're going to be patient, and we're going to try to accumulate as many really good football players as we can."
Or, here's Stefanski on if he would "stand on the table" for a quarterback at No. 2: "I believe in all these guys and I understand the question, but nothing is going to stop us from taking any of these positions. I don't think there's any desire to have to take this position, have to take that position. We're going to get a really, really good football player and I'm excited about how that player is going to impact our football team."
The biggest thing to emerge from all of the conversations was the Haslams acknowledging the Watson trade was a disaster for the organization. However, it was in that acknowledgment that the initial takeaway of more time's being given to Berry and Stefanski was formed.
That's because no one in the room specifically asked the Haslams about Watson before they volunteered that response. Again, context matters for all questions and answers, so here's the three-question back and forth that seems to get to the heart of the Watson deal:
Question: Can I ask you, you're in the sixth year of your program coming off 3-14. Don't have a quarterback. I mean not many GMs last six years with that kind of record.
Jimmy Haslam: "Well, I mean let's address the elephant in the room. We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun. We thought we had the quarterback, we didn't, and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him. So we've got to dig ourselves out of that hole."
Question: Shouldn't they be held accountable for that decision?
Jimmy Haslam: "Listen, I've said this I think numerous times, the Deshaun Watson (trade) was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee and I. So hold us accountable."
Question: Off of that has that experience, what have you learned from that experience maybe that you can use now going forward?
Dee Haslam: "I mean the player got hurt and so that was an unusual situation. I think there was a lot of unusual situations, but really bad injuries when a player has these kind of bad injuries, it's really unfortunate for him and unfortunate for our organization."
Watson has played just 19 games over three seasons. The Achilles that he tore in Week 7 to end his 2024 season he re-tore during his rehab, which has led to a significant portion of his 2025 season being lost.
The Browns remain on the hook for more than $92 million in salary and $172,331,244 in what would be dead cap money if he were to be cut before June 1 of this year.
"The contract's the contract," Jimmy Haslam said, "and I would just restate what we said earlier: We need to see what Deshaun's health situation is before we make a decision."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski get mulligan for Browns woes: Takeaways
Continue reading...
That group included some of the biggest decision makers in the Browns organization — owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, as well as general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski.
All four of them were made available to a small handful of Browns beat writers, including the Beacon Journal, over the course of the meetings. Those conversations, nearly 90 combined minutes, covered a variety of topics, including the upcoming draft, last year's disappointing season and even the Deshaun Watson trade.
With a couple of days time to marinate on everything that was said, here's a few big takeaways:
Jimmy and Dee Haslam appear willing to give Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski multiple years
There's an assumption that this upcoming season would be the final one for Berry and/or Stefanski if the Browns fail to show significant improvement. That may be true if it turns into a complete disaster.
However, listening to the Haslams speak Monday, everything that was said seemed to indicate a willingnesss to want to allow the two the opportunity to fix the situation. While Jimmy Haslam did say, "Andrew needs to do better in personnel, Kevin needs to better at coaching," he also finished that sentence by saying, "we have high confidence in those two guys. We really do."
It wasn't just that statement, either. There was another answer given by Jimmy Haslam to the direct question: "What are your thoughts and expectations on winning in 2025?"
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"Well, you have to be realistic," he said. "In terms of the cap, we don't have unlimited space. so that's going to limit you in free agency. We do have a lot of draft picks. They'll be rookies and it takes a year or two, but we're going to try to win this year. We're not expecting another 3-14 year and our expectations are high. But you all know the NFL is tough. It's hard to win games. We know that better than anybody else, but we're going to really get after it this coming year. I mean, nobody wants to go through what we did last year."
Does that mean something couldn't happen to lead the Haslams to change their minds? Certainly, something could happen.
Does that mean another losing season means a change? Not necessarily, and here's another reason why beyond just those comments.
Cleveland Browns' QB question may not get answered with pick No. 2
There's been a lot of time and energy exerted by people talking or writing about the Browns' quarterback situation. In case you didn't know, Kenny Pickett is the de facto starter for the Browns right now since he's the only healthy one on the roster.
There's a rightful assumption that a quarterback will be drafted at some point later this month. There's also the rightful assumption another veteran will be brought in as well.
You must be registered for see images attach
Will any of them be the solution? There's a good chance they won't.
That's especially true with the No. 2 overall pick.
This question was asked of Jimmy Haslam: How vitally important is it for you guys to perhaps find your quarterback of the future in this draft? What do you think? Do you think he is there maybe even at No. 2 and how important is that decision?
His response: "If you had the No. 1 pick, you could say, OK, we know what we're going to do. When you're No. 2, you don't control your own destiny. I think Andrew told you all last night, he did not see us trading up. So it would be great if we could get the quarterback, but we're not going to force it. We're going to be patient, and we're going to try to accumulate as many really good football players as we can."
Or, here's Stefanski on if he would "stand on the table" for a quarterback at No. 2: "I believe in all these guys and I understand the question, but nothing is going to stop us from taking any of these positions. I don't think there's any desire to have to take this position, have to take that position. We're going to get a really, really good football player and I'm excited about how that player is going to impact our football team."
Jimmy and Dee Haslam are giving Andrew Berry, Browns front office a mulligan of sorts on Deshaun Watson
The biggest thing to emerge from all of the conversations was the Haslams acknowledging the Watson trade was a disaster for the organization. However, it was in that acknowledgment that the initial takeaway of more time's being given to Berry and Stefanski was formed.
That's because no one in the room specifically asked the Haslams about Watson before they volunteered that response. Again, context matters for all questions and answers, so here's the three-question back and forth that seems to get to the heart of the Watson deal:
Question: Can I ask you, you're in the sixth year of your program coming off 3-14. Don't have a quarterback. I mean not many GMs last six years with that kind of record.
Jimmy Haslam: "Well, I mean let's address the elephant in the room. We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun. We thought we had the quarterback, we didn't, and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him. So we've got to dig ourselves out of that hole."
Question: Shouldn't they be held accountable for that decision?
Jimmy Haslam: "Listen, I've said this I think numerous times, the Deshaun Watson (trade) was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee and I. So hold us accountable."
Question: Off of that has that experience, what have you learned from that experience maybe that you can use now going forward?
Dee Haslam: "I mean the player got hurt and so that was an unusual situation. I think there was a lot of unusual situations, but really bad injuries when a player has these kind of bad injuries, it's really unfortunate for him and unfortunate for our organization."
Watson has played just 19 games over three seasons. The Achilles that he tore in Week 7 to end his 2024 season he re-tore during his rehab, which has led to a significant portion of his 2025 season being lost.
The Browns remain on the hook for more than $92 million in salary and $172,331,244 in what would be dead cap money if he were to be cut before June 1 of this year.
"The contract's the contract," Jimmy Haslam said, "and I would just restate what we said earlier: We need to see what Deshaun's health situation is before we make a decision."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski get mulligan for Browns woes: Takeaways
Continue reading...
