Andrew Berry doesn’t believe Browns can rest on moves made at receiver
PHOENIX — Andrew Berry understands where the focus is going to be on his football team. It’s going to zero in entirely on quarterback Deshaun Watson.
For Watson to succeed, though, the Browns general manager understands he needs to have weapons around him. More weapons, that is, than they already had in the likes of receivers Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, as well as tight end David Njoku.
Yet, for the first week of the new league year, those weapons for Watson weren’t as prevalent as were the new pieces for defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. The only offensive skill player signed over the first week was tight end Jordan Akins.
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The lack of movement certainly created a level of anxiety within the Browns’ fan base. That anxiety, though, dissipated a bit with last week’s trade for Elijah Moore and the signing two days later of veteran Marquise Goodwin.
The person who feels like there’s still plenty of work left to do in that regard is the same one who’s responsible for doing the work.
“Even as we sit here today, we’re two weeks into the start of the league year, there’s no position group or part of the roster that’s completed at this point,” Berry told a handful of Northeast Ohio reporters Sunday evening at the NFL’s annual meetings at the Arizona Biltmore. “We are really, really early in terms of the transaction season. Now I’ll also acknowledge that I understand that within maybe the first week, that’s probably the most player movement across the league, but even as we sit here now, there’s still a lot of work to be done and a lot of things that could happen to shape the roster. So we don’t look at it as like, OK, catch your breath right now — it’s a long time until we are playing games in September.”
There’s one thing that is undeniable about the moves Berry made to address the offensive skill. It’s added some significant production that was lacking prior to the moves.
Cooper and Njoku both have at least seven years in the league, with the amount of productivity one would expect players of that experience to possess. Peoples-Jones has more than 100 career catches and 1,000 career yards in his three seasons.
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The rest of the receiving corps was both shy on years and catches. Insert Goodwin and Moore. Goodwin came into the league in 2013 and has more than 180 career catches and 3,000 yards. Moore, a 2021 second-round pick of the New York Jets, has 80 catches and nearly 1,000 yards in just two seasons.
Akins, meanwhile, has more than 150 career catches for 1,755 yards. That includes 90 catches and 1,046 yards on passes thrown by Watson, who was his quarterback with the Houston Texans from 2018-20.
“I would say the focus wasn’t necessarily on experience,” Berry said. “Adding an element of deep, big-play ability because of what we’ve seen Deshaun do in his past with that skillset in the receiver room — you can do it through the tight end room. David can stretch the field vertically, Jordan, who we added he can stretch the field vertically, but having someone … who can do that maybe a little bit more traditionally than Donovan or the way that Donovan and Amari do it is important. So that was really the focus.”
Moore was someone who has been on the Browns’ radar since last year, when they nearly acquired him from the Jets at the November trade deadline. That came on the heels of the second-year pro getting into a run-in with his then-offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, which led to a one-game suspension for Moore.
Berry isn’t worried about that transgression, or the one while Moore was at Ole Miss when he was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by mimicking a dog relieving itself on a fire hydrant after a touchdown against rival Mississippi State.
“We feel very good about Elijah,” Berry said. “Loves ball, hard worker. He is a good teammate. This is a guy that despite some of the ups and downs in New York, and obviously we have a really good relationship with that organization, my time working with (Jets general manager) Joe (Douglas), and (Browns coach) Kevin (Stefanski’s) and (Jets coach) Robert (Saleh’s) friendship, but we feel good about who Elijah is bringing him into our building and think he’s going to do well there. “
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