It is no secret that the 2025 NFL season may be a tough one for the Cleveland Browns, as well as it’s loyal fanbase.
The schedule does the Browns no favors either, as they face off against the Bengals, Ravens, Packers, and Lions in the first month of the season.
After Cleveland gave away a winnable game against Cincinnati in Week 1, a range of emotions flooded the airwaves and social media.
Mix the week on loss to now another embarrassing loss to the Ravens on Sunday, this team has a lot of problems, mainly on the offensive side of the ball.
Whether fans blamed coach Stefanski, the receivers for giving away two interceptions, or blamed Joe Flacco. Everybody on the Browns took a shot.
But the one person in that building that I keep circling back to is not even a player or a member of the coaching staff. It’s Andrew Berry.
Although I will give some credit for the rookie class he has brought in this season, Andrew Berry is a huge reason for the mess of a roster the Browns find themselves with.
We can point out the obvious elephant in the room, which is the Deshaun Watson fiasco. Giving guaranteed money to someone who didn’t play for two full seasons prior due to his off-the-field issues was the first bad decision.
Since then, Watson has played in just 19 games over three seasons, while still sitting out to start the 2025 season, and has an uncertain future with the team.
That alone set the Browns back a few years.
But then we dive into Berry’s other swing-and-miss situations.
Jed Wills was selected with the 10th overall pick in the first round of the 2020 draft. He is currently not on an NFL team. That’s strike one.
Berry has missed on several third-round WRs, choosing names like Anthony Schwartz and David Bell. He’s also taken several other WRs and RBs in rounds 3-6 that have yet to pan out; with the latest one being Jerome Ford, who had 8 yards on 6 carries Sunday vs the Bengals.
You can count all of that as strike number two.
Add that to all of his misses at attempting to revamp the defensive front, both through the draft and in free agency. Striking out on names like Jordan Elliot, Tommy Togiai, Perrion Winfrey, and Siaki Ika. All of which are either out of the league or barely role players (Elliot is the one exception here).
Let’s not forget the many failed attempts in free agency. Names like Anthony Walker, John Johnson, Jadeveon Clowney, Juan Thornhill, and Dalvin Thompson are just a few. None of whom are members of the team now, and rarely were in a Browns uniform.
That’s enough for a strike three, considering who remains on the roster is from the last two drafts and rounds of free agency.
Berry also failed with the Austin Hooper signing, gave Jack Conklin a 3-year deal after a significant knee injury, and a player who has been hurt for a majority of his time in Cleveland, and to top it all off, has one of the most expensive rosters in the entire NFL.
All just to win three games in 2024 and win just one playoff game since 2020.
You can blame Kevin Stefanski for the field issues, sure. But mixing the amount of money spent on the roster and the current state of the level of talent on the roster, it doesn’t exactly give Stefanski a real winning chance to succeed this season.
Jerry Jeudy is the WR1 despite not proving he is a true WR1, your best running back currently on the roster just signed his rookie contract just a day before the season opener, and the roster is littered with players with more red flags than a toxic ex.
Berry’s only saving grace is that the current rookie class is playing better than fans expected. Judkins played well against Baltimore, with Sampson being a nice follow-up. And the defensive rookies have been some of the best players on the field each week.
However, Andrew Berry is the single biggest problem with this team, and quite frankly, he needs to be the first one booted if anyone loses their job after this season.
The issue is, if Stefanski continues to struggle with this offense, Haslam may force his own hand and get rid of them both.
But media members echo that both are safe. So, only time will tell. One thing is for certain: Haslam has shown his hand before and how gung-ho he can be.
The question remains: Can Browns fans be as patient as Haslam has portrayed himself to be?