August 5, 2025 • 10 mins
In this episode of Building Brownstown, Cleveland Browns General Manager Andrew Berry discusses his career origins in Indianapolis and the advantages of playing in a dome stadium. He explains how this led to prioritizing speed over size when building a team. The conversation transitions to the future of the Browns, focusing on the team's new enclosed stadium at Huntington Bank Field. Berry highlights how the controlled indoor environment could be a significant advantage, particularly for the passing game, and how it eliminates unpredictable variables like weather.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into another edition of Building Brown's Town. Very happy
to be joined by the general manager of your Cleveland Browns,
Andrew Berry. Ab good to be with you, Hey, thanks
for having me, Nate, absolute pleasure. Let's go way back
to when you broke into this business in Indianapolis the
RCA Dome for those people who remember, are going all
the way back before into Lucas Oil Stadium there. So
you kind of came in the league with a dome team.
(00:24):
Was that a focus? What were the advantages? What was
it like with a dome team?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
So I'll say the first advantage was just, honestly, how
loud it got in an indoor stadium. Like open air
stadiums are great, there's no no disrespect to to you know,
open air stadiums, but there's something about being able to
capture the noise of you know, fifty five sixty five
seventy five thousand people, you know, on on third and ten,
(00:49):
you know, if we're on defense, and it makes a
huge impact. You know, opponents would come into to Lucas
Oil and talk about how loud it got playoff games,
sunny night games, and it was a real advantage for us,
especially when we had two premier pass rushers and Dwight
Freeney and Robert Mathis. You know, tackles were trying to
they were trying to get off the ball quickly. I
(01:11):
can think of the amount of negative plays, sacks, things
like that that you know that that volume, that loudness
had a direct impact on.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So knowing that, let's just focus on the defense side
of it, knowing that, does that change at all how
you would want to build your team Because if you
have speed, and I know every team wants speed, but
if you have speed off the edge when they have
to go on a silent count, if you can guess
that you have a chance to be there quicker than
even outdoors.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, I'd say this. You know, when we were in Indianapolis,
we were predicated on speed on both sides of the ball.
You know, we it's not that we didn't want size,
but when it comes to you know, picking through players,
when you know you're not in the top ten and
you have to pick pick through weaknesses or flaws, at
that point, we would prioritize speed over size. And you know,
(01:57):
with with this because always we felt like we had
a fast track. We had a you know, a generational
quarterback and on offense, you know, we were you know,
we were really a spread team that wanted to beat
it with beach it with speed, be able to throw
the ball down the field, be able to separate, be
able to play in space, and defensively, you know, we
were all about defending the passing game. You know, we
(02:18):
knew we would score a lot of points on offense.
And you know, Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney, at the
time they were drafted, they were not for everyone in
the league.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Freennie was thought of as like, hey, this guy's you know,
he's too short. Robert it was like, hey, this guy's
a productive small school rusher, but he's just way too little.
But they both could really burn the edge, and we
felt like that really play to our advantage, you know,
given our home environment.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So how do you balance in that situation? Okay, our
home environment, we have these guys, but you do also
still have to go on the road, and then if
you take it to the Browns, everybody else here is
going to be playing outdoors. It is a very physical division.
So as you kind of project into the future building
this team for you know, the enclosed stadium in Huntington Makefield.
How do you kind of think of that balance.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You do want your home environment to be an advantage
because that's where you're going to play, you know, most
often over over a long period of time, and we
certainly have the ability to create that with Hunton Bank Field.
That being said, I think there are probably smaller differences
in terms of how you have to build your team
(03:23):
indoors versus outdoors.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
The example I give is, you know, you think about
you know, the Packers when Aaron Rodgers won the Super Bowl,
one of the hardest weather environments to play in. But
I mean they were a spread offense with you know
Greg Jettings and Jordan Nelson and Donald Driver and Michael Finley,
you know guys guys like that. Or you take the Chiefs,
you know in in in their recent stretch, I mean
(03:47):
they had Kelsey and Tyreek Hill. Now they have you know,
Hollywood Brown and you know Xavier Worthy and and and
Richie Rice. So as you look at teams that have
historically been in the hunt, you know, every year year
and in you're out, I think there are some carry
over principles. We just think that those characteristics that probably
(04:08):
lead to winning, you know, at a league wide level
can only be enhanced with you know, with the new environment.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
And let's take it to the offensive site, cause I
think that's where perhaps in the passing game you get
the biggest benefit. Complete control of the environment. It is
perfect ideal conditions every single time. And I think you've
seen quarterbacks who like Drew Brees for example, look at
his indoor outdoor splits over his career. It is quite different.
But you can have a certain style of quarterback indoors
that maybe you couldn't have because think about you mentioned
(04:36):
Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes of those two teams, those guys
have absolute candons. You can have kind of more of
a finesse, accurate quarterback in a dome. So from an
offensive standpoint, how does it affect what you want to do?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You know, the controlled environment is real, especially as you
get you know, later in the season, because the passing
game is so important when you get to playoff time
and high leverage moments in games, and we want that
to be to our advantage. Like you know, we've we've
we've been very clear that that you know, we're focused
on the quarterback position. We're focused on you know, winning
(05:08):
passing efficiency over the long run and being able to
do that in a home environment that you know that
would be conducive to doing that perhaps a little bit
more easily. You know, we think that that's something that
that that we're excited about.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
As you kind of think about it in your chair, right,
is that twenty twenty nine will be our first season
in the enclosed stadium. At what point does that start
maybe altering? Is it the twenty seven draft? Is it
the twenty eight draft where you start saying, Okay, we
need to be thinking about guys, not just where we
are now, but maybe we're building for this environment and
that advantage.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I'd say it's pretty it's pretty prevalent now, you know,
even though we play in in in and outdoor environment.
You think, you know, you think of you know Buffalo
with Josh, Kansas City with you know, with with Patrick,
Cincinnati with with Joe Burrow, know, Baltimore with Lamar and
then even historically Brady up in New England, you know,
(06:06):
Farv and Rogers in Green Bay, Big Ben and Pittsburgh.
You know, all those all those teams had you know,
very explosive offenses with you know, with high level passing attacks,
So that wouldn't you know, that wouldn't you know change
as much. But maybe some of the characteristics at the
player level where it's like okay, hey, you know, how
how well is this player's arm strength going to play,
(06:29):
you know over a full season, or you know, how
will this player hold up? You know, as as as
the temperature changes and as the element changes, like there's
maybe a little bit more flexibility in that in the
in in future years. But but I would say the general,
the general principles probably stayed pretty consistent.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Is there something to be able to For example, in
our division, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh will be outdoors at least
for as long as we know. There are certainly no
plans for them not to be. To having be the
one in your four that gives you maybe some type
of advantage that yes, you need to be able to
play their soft football, but also when they come here,
it's maybe a little bit different than what they're used to.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I don't I guess I wouldn't necessarily want to overvalue
it or over oversell it, but I do think that
there is something to be said about being a little
bit different and being a little bit unique, you know,
relative to the to the you know, the teams that
you play like. We always have this phrase that styles
makes fights like you know in in our league and
(07:25):
you know, probably no different. This is an extreme example,
but no different than when let's say the Service Academies
you know play a power for team. It's the first
time you're you're seeing something like that over the course
of the year. That does take an adjustment in terms
of your preparation or when you see at full speed
the first time. And I certainly think that you know,
with the new stadium, it does give us, you know,
(07:46):
even if it's a small advantage, like these games are
one on the margins, and that's something that.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
We would look forward to. Is there something as somebody
who you know, you work with your team and your
collaborative obviously with coach and everybody to construct this roster
that at least when you play in our home stadium,
when it is the enclosed stadium at Brooke Park, the
best team is likely to win. Right. There's not going
to be an outside variable that is going to change
(08:11):
the game. Whether but you have this great game plan
and then here comes monsoons and whatnot, and you can't
execute it that you know, at least for that week,
the game plan we put in is the game plan
we're gonna be able to execute, and if we execute
and we're the better team and have the better plan,
we're going to win.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah. I think there's definitely a an appreciation for that,
because you know, every year we get late in the
year and it's like, Okay, this is our thought process
going in. It's probably maybe a little bit uncertain what
kickoff weather it's going to look like, or what it's
going to look like in the second half. I think
probably the perfect example is the Pittsburgh game last year
at home, where it's a beautiful, crisp night for the
(08:45):
first half and then all of a sudden, turns into
a snow. Yeah, it turns into a snow globe on
the field. And eliminating that that variable and that uncertainty
is something that we would view in a positive flight.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I go a couple of years when we played the
Saints late in the year and they really couldn't throw
the forward pass. If that game was played in a dome,
it is a completely different outcome. But because of the environment,
the fact they couldn't throw the forward pass was pretty
good for them.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, I think about that game a lot. That was
that was those were probably the worst weather conditions that
I've ever ever been a part of, with the wind
and the temperature and even just the field. The field
conditions it was, I mean, it was like playing on ice,
and so to eliminate those type of games, I think.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
That was the first time that the Great Jim Donovan
even contemplated closing our broadcast windows in the radio. But
because it was that was a crazy one. So as
you kind of just kind of to put kind of
a ribbon on the whole thing that there is something
that is going to be special about this the advantage
with the crowd, the noise, all of that, the perfect
environment that will in some way shape how you build
(09:50):
this organization, this football team going forward.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's accurate. We want
to take all those things into consideration. You know, I've
said multiple times, like I firmly leave that we're playing
paying NFL players to be athletes, not necessarily you know, gladiators,
and we want to we want to be able to
create a environment where they can show that as often
as possible, you know, without the random chance of uh,
(10:13):
severe elements severely impacting the game.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Oh, we certainly all look forward to it and excited
to see what the product is on the field when
we move into this beautiful stadium, which will be probably
the best stadium quite frankly, on planet Earth for a
period of time. Huntington Bakefield, Thanks a b all right,
thanks Nate,
Welcome into another edition of Building Brown's Town. Very happy
to be joined by the general manager of your Cleveland Browns,
Andrew Berry. Ab good to be with you, Hey, thanks
for having me, Nate, absolute pleasure. Let's go way back
to when you broke into this business in Indianapolis the
RCA Dome for those people who remember, are going all
the way back before into Lucas Oil Stadium there. So
you kind of came in the league with a dome team.
(00:24):
Was that a focus? What were the advantages? What was
it like with a dome team?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
So I'll say the first advantage was just, honestly, how
loud it got in an indoor stadium. Like open air
stadiums are great, there's no no disrespect to to you know,
open air stadiums, but there's something about being able to
capture the noise of you know, fifty five sixty five
seventy five thousand people, you know, on on third and ten,
(00:49):
you know, if we're on defense, and it makes a
huge impact. You know, opponents would come into to Lucas
Oil and talk about how loud it got playoff games,
sunny night games, and it was a real advantage for us,
especially when we had two premier pass rushers and Dwight
Freeney and Robert Mathis. You know, tackles were trying to
they were trying to get off the ball quickly. I
(01:11):
can think of the amount of negative plays, sacks, things
like that that you know that that volume, that loudness
had a direct impact on.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So knowing that, let's just focus on the defense side
of it, knowing that, does that change at all how
you would want to build your team Because if you
have speed, and I know every team wants speed, but
if you have speed off the edge when they have
to go on a silent count, if you can guess
that you have a chance to be there quicker than
even outdoors.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, I'd say this. You know, when we were in Indianapolis,
we were predicated on speed on both sides of the ball.
You know, we it's not that we didn't want size,
but when it comes to you know, picking through players,
when you know you're not in the top ten and
you have to pick pick through weaknesses or flaws, at
that point, we would prioritize speed over size. And you know,
(01:57):
with with this because always we felt like we had
a fast track. We had a you know, a generational
quarterback and on offense, you know, we were you know,
we were really a spread team that wanted to beat
it with beach it with speed, be able to throw
the ball down the field, be able to separate, be
able to play in space, and defensively, you know, we
were all about defending the passing game. You know, we
(02:18):
knew we would score a lot of points on offense.
And you know, Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney, at the
time they were drafted, they were not for everyone in
the league.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Freennie was thought of as like, hey, this guy's you know,
he's too short. Robert it was like, hey, this guy's
a productive small school rusher, but he's just way too little.
But they both could really burn the edge, and we
felt like that really play to our advantage, you know,
given our home environment.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So how do you balance in that situation? Okay, our
home environment, we have these guys, but you do also
still have to go on the road, and then if
you take it to the Browns, everybody else here is
going to be playing outdoors. It is a very physical division.
So as you kind of project into the future building
this team for you know, the enclosed stadium in Huntington Makefield.
How do you kind of think of that balance.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
You do want your home environment to be an advantage
because that's where you're going to play, you know, most
often over over a long period of time, and we
certainly have the ability to create that with Hunton Bank Field.
That being said, I think there are probably smaller differences
in terms of how you have to build your team
(03:23):
indoors versus outdoors.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
The example I give is, you know, you think about
you know, the Packers when Aaron Rodgers won the Super Bowl,
one of the hardest weather environments to play in. But
I mean they were a spread offense with you know
Greg Jettings and Jordan Nelson and Donald Driver and Michael Finley,
you know guys guys like that. Or you take the Chiefs,
you know in in in their recent stretch, I mean
(03:47):
they had Kelsey and Tyreek Hill. Now they have you know,
Hollywood Brown and you know Xavier Worthy and and and
Richie Rice. So as you look at teams that have
historically been in the hunt, you know, every year year
and in you're out, I think there are some carry
over principles. We just think that those characteristics that probably
(04:08):
lead to winning, you know, at a league wide level
can only be enhanced with you know, with the new environment.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
And let's take it to the offensive site, cause I
think that's where perhaps in the passing game you get
the biggest benefit. Complete control of the environment. It is
perfect ideal conditions every single time. And I think you've
seen quarterbacks who like Drew Brees for example, look at
his indoor outdoor splits over his career. It is quite different.
But you can have a certain style of quarterback indoors
that maybe you couldn't have because think about you mentioned
(04:36):
Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes of those two teams, those guys
have absolute candons. You can have kind of more of
a finesse, accurate quarterback in a dome. So from an
offensive standpoint, how does it affect what you want to do?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You know, the controlled environment is real, especially as you
get you know, later in the season, because the passing
game is so important when you get to playoff time
and high leverage moments in games, and we want that
to be to our advantage. Like you know, we've we've
we've been very clear that that you know, we're focused
on the quarterback position. We're focused on you know, winning
(05:08):
passing efficiency over the long run and being able to
do that in a home environment that you know that
would be conducive to doing that perhaps a little bit
more easily. You know, we think that that's something that
that that we're excited about.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
As you kind of think about it in your chair, right,
is that twenty twenty nine will be our first season
in the enclosed stadium. At what point does that start
maybe altering? Is it the twenty seven draft? Is it
the twenty eight draft where you start saying, Okay, we
need to be thinking about guys, not just where we
are now, but maybe we're building for this environment and
that advantage.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I'd say it's pretty it's pretty prevalent now, you know,
even though we play in in in and outdoor environment.
You think, you know, you think of you know Buffalo
with Josh, Kansas City with you know, with with Patrick,
Cincinnati with with Joe Burrow, know, Baltimore with Lamar and
then even historically Brady up in New England, you know,
(06:06):
Farv and Rogers in Green Bay, Big Ben and Pittsburgh.
You know, all those all those teams had you know,
very explosive offenses with you know, with high level passing attacks,
So that wouldn't you know, that wouldn't you know change
as much. But maybe some of the characteristics at the
player level where it's like okay, hey, you know, how
how well is this player's arm strength going to play,
(06:29):
you know over a full season, or you know, how
will this player hold up? You know, as as as
the temperature changes and as the element changes, like there's
maybe a little bit more flexibility in that in the
in in future years. But but I would say the general,
the general principles probably stayed pretty consistent.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Is there something to be able to For example, in
our division, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh will be outdoors at least
for as long as we know. There are certainly no
plans for them not to be. To having be the
one in your four that gives you maybe some type
of advantage that yes, you need to be able to
play their soft football, but also when they come here,
it's maybe a little bit different than what they're used to.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I don't I guess I wouldn't necessarily want to overvalue
it or over oversell it, but I do think that
there is something to be said about being a little
bit different and being a little bit unique, you know,
relative to the to the you know, the teams that
you play like. We always have this phrase that styles
makes fights like you know in in our league and
(07:25):
you know, probably no different. This is an extreme example,
but no different than when let's say the Service Academies
you know play a power for team. It's the first
time you're you're seeing something like that over the course
of the year. That does take an adjustment in terms
of your preparation or when you see at full speed
the first time. And I certainly think that you know,
with the new stadium, it does give us, you know,
(07:46):
even if it's a small advantage, like these games are
one on the margins, and that's something that.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
We would look forward to. Is there something as somebody
who you know, you work with your team and your
collaborative obviously with coach and everybody to construct this roster
that at least when you play in our home stadium,
when it is the enclosed stadium at Brooke Park, the
best team is likely to win. Right. There's not going
to be an outside variable that is going to change
(08:11):
the game. Whether but you have this great game plan
and then here comes monsoons and whatnot, and you can't
execute it that you know, at least for that week,
the game plan we put in is the game plan
we're gonna be able to execute, and if we execute
and we're the better team and have the better plan,
we're going to win.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah. I think there's definitely a an appreciation for that,
because you know, every year we get late in the
year and it's like, Okay, this is our thought process
going in. It's probably maybe a little bit uncertain what
kickoff weather it's going to look like, or what it's
going to look like in the second half. I think
probably the perfect example is the Pittsburgh game last year
at home, where it's a beautiful, crisp night for the
(08:45):
first half and then all of a sudden, turns into
a snow. Yeah, it turns into a snow globe on
the field. And eliminating that that variable and that uncertainty
is something that we would view in a positive flight.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I go a couple of years when we played the
Saints late in the year and they really couldn't throw
the forward pass. If that game was played in a dome,
it is a completely different outcome. But because of the environment,
the fact they couldn't throw the forward pass was pretty
good for them.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, I think about that game a lot. That was
that was those were probably the worst weather conditions that
I've ever ever been a part of, with the wind
and the temperature and even just the field. The field
conditions it was, I mean, it was like playing on ice,
and so to eliminate those type of games, I think.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
That was the first time that the Great Jim Donovan
even contemplated closing our broadcast windows in the radio. But
because it was that was a crazy one. So as
you kind of just kind of to put kind of
a ribbon on the whole thing that there is something
that is going to be special about this the advantage
with the crowd, the noise, all of that, the perfect
environment that will in some way shape how you build
(09:50):
this organization, this football team going forward.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's accurate. We want
to take all those things into consideration. You know, I've
said multiple times, like I firmly leave that we're playing
paying NFL players to be athletes, not necessarily you know, gladiators,
and we want to we want to be able to
create a environment where they can show that as often
as possible, you know, without the random chance of uh,
(10:13):
severe elements severely impacting the game.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Oh, we certainly all look forward to it and excited
to see what the product is on the field when
we move into this beautiful stadium, which will be probably
the best stadium quite frankly, on planet Earth for a
period of time. Huntington Bakefield, Thanks a b all right,
thanks Nate,
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