January 6, 2025 • 32 mins
On this special edition of From the Podium, Browns GM/EVP Andrew Berry spoke with the media regarding the 2024-25 season.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to a special edition of the From the Podium podcast.
I'm Gabe Klea. As is customary, at the conclusion of
the season, Brown's general manager and executive vice president, Andrew
Berry addressed the media. Here is that press conference now.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
All right, sit here in front of you with a
season where we just won three games, and I really
share in our fans disappointment frustration. Quite honestly, I'm embarrassed
with the results that we've had as a team this year.
Just plainly put, we didn't meet expectations. Our decisions coming
(00:39):
into the year didn't meet expectations, and ultimately that responsibility
it lies at my feet, you know, thinking back a
little bit too a year ago where we were coming
off in eleven one season going into the playoffs. Our
goal has always been to perform at that level or
a higher level on.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
A consistent basis.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
And in order for us to do that, especially as
we look at this season, you know, we really have
to look at everything. It's it's you know, an objective
and hard analysis at you know, at each position group
and the roster. It's you know, looking at what we're
doing to put our our players in the best position
to be successful. It's looking about how we practice, how
(01:19):
we train to avoid, you know, the major losses that
we've had in player availability over the past couple of years.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
We really do have to look at everything.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I think it probably goes without saying that to reach
that level of consistency, you know, we have to have
consistent availability and consistent performance at the QB position as well.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And that's something that's been.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Elusive for us for the past couple of seasons, and
that's something that we have to be able to fix
in remedy. I'll share you know with you all this
morning that you know, I was recently listening to John
Maxwell talking John Maxwell, he's a uh former pastor, a
long time I'M Leadership executive coach. He was like a
(02:02):
New York Times bestseller and he was talking about he
was talking about the topic of how to get a
positive return on failure and he used this term he
talked about like good misses and bad misses. And it
stuck with me because I've listened to Kevin coach quarterbacks
for five years and he uses the same terminology where
it's like, hey, you're gonna miss throws, but let's make
sure they're a good miss or a bad miss And
(02:24):
the way John categorized you know, good failure or excuse me,
good misses versus bad misses is with good misses they
force you to adjust. Their failures where you learn and
you have to adjust where the bad misses they're the
ones where you don't learn anything and you make excuses.
And we have a lot of good people in our
(02:45):
organization from you know, core group of players, good coaches,
good people in football operations. We will make adjustments and
we will learn from this and we will grow for this.
I will learn from this and I will grow from
this to ultimately deliver the results that you know, our
fan base deserves and in our organization return deserves. The
last thing I'll do before I open up with questions,
(03:07):
I did want to give an update on Deshaun so yesterday,
as we went through our normal player you know medical process,
we did learn that he did have a setback in
his you know, Achilles recovery. We don't have all the
details and everything yet, but it obviously obviously extend the
(03:28):
recovery process for him. It is new information, just learned
in the past couple hours, so I don't have everything yet,
but did want to make you all aware of it
before before opening up for questions.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So with that, I'll leave it to you.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
As far as Deshaun's concerned, that is that take him
out of their running for next year or how does
that impact.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Him coming into game?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, Tom, it's it's too it's too early. It's too
early to tell. I don't have all the information. Obviously,
in a situation like that, you know, I don't want
to one thing I said I have learned from this year.
I don't want to rule out anything with a with
a major injury. We are still collecting all the information
and you know, obviously our focus is making sure that
he can get as healthy as possible.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I got this yesterday. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
So we typically in our end of the end of
your process, all the players go through what we call
exit physicals, and it's something that we learned yesterday.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
How did this step back for her? Or you have
a view?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Does he even know? Yeah, I don't. I don't have
all those details, Nate.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know, obviously it's it's pretty fresh information and we'll
work through that the next couple of days.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
When he got examined, like did he know something was
wrong or is this a new information for him in the.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Love I'm sorry say the last part of the informed.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
So he got examined, right, Did he know something was
wrong or was that news?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yes? He did, he did.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
He did raise it to the He did raise it
to the docs that something didn't feel right and everything
like that, and then you know, we realized had.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
A set back.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You expect him to another again, Scott like, it's it's
it's all like, I'm not trying to be evasive areas,
it is all really new. I can't. I can't rule
anything out, but I will know more in the next
couple of days and weeks. Yeah, I guess that I
don't have all the details, you know, Mary kay, And
honestly I don't. I don't necessarily want to go into
all that until I have all the information.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
But that's that's all I have for now.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
What had that what had been the timeline before this setback?
Speaker 6 (05:13):
Did you guys have an opt you know, what had
been kind of an optimistic outlook about when you expected
him to be back doing football and participating in football.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
You know, because he was still early in his recovery,
and he was you know, we felt like he was
progressing appropriately, you know, as I think back to like
this year, when we've had guys who have had major
surgeries or injuries, the timelines really can be variable until
you get a little bit further on, like we you know,
we experienced that with you know, with certain players this,
you know, this past year. So it was probably still
(05:43):
too early in the process to say whether it's like
he's optimistic or he's he's he's ahead of schedule, he's
behind schedule, but we felt like he was at least
progressing appropriately.
Speaker 6 (05:53):
You've drafted one quarterback in five years, and of course
Watson's the biggest acquisition you made. Do you think you
need to fix the process in finding the next quarterback?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, Tony, it's it's it's a good question.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I think as we go into the off season, like
we have to, we have to look at everything like
we really, we really do, and you know, we want
to make sure that we're eyes wide open in terms
of you know what you know, what we're what we're
doing across football operations. That being said, you know, we
have good people, we have good coaches. We understand how
(06:27):
important the quarterback position is, you know, and that's obviously
going to be a primary goal as we entered the
off season, how do you.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
Look at how did the decision to change the offensive
coaching staff around and the coaches the whole offense thing,
you know, how did that come about last year?
Speaker 5 (06:43):
And then where are you with that going forward.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Into this year?
Speaker 8 (06:46):
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, So I think whenever you talk about coaching staff,
you know, Kevin's goal is to make sure that he
surrounds our players and builds a system that can accentuate,
accentuate their strengths in really minimum their their weaknesses. Any
decision that he makes in that regard is you know,
is really with you know, is really with that in mind.
(07:07):
A lot of things didn't go well for us offensively.
We didn't we didn't perform up the standard. We didn't
perform you know, nearly nearly well enough. And I know
when you know, Kevin met with you all yesterday, he
was talking about he wants to make sure that we
have a sound and explosive offense and that'll really be
the focus for us moving forward.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
With Kevin's idea to kind of get away from sort
of the things that they had done well in the past.
Speaker 8 (07:29):
Walking and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, I'd say this, Terry, the probably the better way
to characters that, like Kevin believes in putting a system
around the players, like around the player strains, and the
nature of the NFL is that your players, they they
will change from year to year. You know what we
may have been good, well, we may have been good
at in twenty twenty maybe different than twenty twenty one
(07:52):
or twenty twenty three, different than twenty twenty four. Obviously,
like what we put together this year wasn't good enough.
You know, we didn't play well enough on that side
of the ball, you know, but have full faith that
that that Kevin will be able to to put it
together and allows that have better results.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
So would you want to is a goal on to
kind of get back to the basics of where they
work at It seems like the quarterbacks wide open. He'll
go anywhere with this and so offensively, would you go
back to what was working?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, I think this, Like and Kevin mentioned this, it's
probably less about you know, what specifically we do in
the run game or what's specifically in the past game,
but sound and explosive and however that comes together and
fits our players best.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
That's the way that he'll go.
Speaker 8 (08:42):
Impact your quarterback acquisition strategy.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I wouldn't say that it has a significant impact. Mary Kay,
I think you know the reality of it is, you
know that room, you know it will look different, you
know next year. You know it may obviously impact how
you know, what the room looks like as we enter
enter the season or camp, depending on the severity of
the you know, the setback.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
But I wouldn't say that it had a significant impact.
Speaker 9 (09:11):
When you look at your look at your roster, do
you think it if it did not play up to
its potential, how will that affect the way you restructure
it for next season?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I think you know, Jeff, you know, we'll look at everything.
I think I think it would be naive to suggest
that there won't be turnover in different in different rooms.
Like our goal is to make the decisions necessary to
you know, make improvements both in the short term and
the long.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Term foundation of the team.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
We do have guys that we like that that you
know we'll be a part of both. But you know,
there are going to have to be some changes that
we do that we do make with the team that.
Speaker 10 (09:51):
Players don't feel like they were put in a position
to be successful and the good organization played to how
the team was built and their strengths as individuals. And
you know, part of that too, is is with what
Miles had to say a couple of weeks ago about
his frustrations with the state of affairs. So I guess
just in your exit process with these players, I'm going
(10:13):
to ask you to reveal confidential conversations, but just what
was the message to players like Miles and those that
felt like they were not put in a position to
be successful this year as far as making sure that
doesn't happen in.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I'd say first, Daryl, that I think everybody shares in
the frustration of this of the season, our fans, our players,
our coaches, ownership, you know, football operations. Everybody realizes that
just the results weren't weren't good enough.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
That being said, I think there's there is shared ownership.
It's not just it's not just one thing. You know,
there were areas where we could have buttressed the roster better.
There are things that we could have done on the
sidelines better. There were things that you know, our best
players they have to play up to their potential. You know,
that's also an element of it, and so you know,
(11:02):
we all share in it because the reality of it is,
when you win three games, I wish it was just
one thing, but it's a it's a collective failure.
Speaker 11 (11:10):
Andrew, do you obviously, Miles was strong about not wanting
to go to the rebuild.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
First of all, do you think a rebuild, Taradot is necessary?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yes, Scot, I don't ension an off season where we're
you know, moving on from a ton of core players.
Like I think a lot of the decisions as we
think about, you know, some of the areas that we
may need to strategically pivot is going to be about
both short term and long term decisions. So like I
do expect there to be some some turnover on the roster,
but the idea that we would get rid of, you know,
(11:38):
some of our cornerstone players, you know, I don't necessarily
see that as a viable path he.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Can win next year? Did you did, Miles? I guess
by the blueprint that he was looking for.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Okay, maybe I'll answer that in two parts. So let
me say, in terms of Miles, my anticipation, expectation is
that he'll have a you know, a direct ticket from Cleveland.
The Canton at the end of the year and expect
him to be here, you know, and retire Brown quite frankly,
in terms of winning, like you know, our goal is
always going to be to win our wait, oh, goal
(12:09):
is always going to be to improve the team.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I think, you know, one of the beauties of the NFL.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I think I guess maybe a parallel you think about
the team that was holding the two pick last year,
We're going to see them next week play I'm not
quite sure where they played, Peter, but we see Washington
playing in the playoffs this year. So you can never
really never, never really put necessarily a timeframe on it.
Like you know, with player movement and how things change
(12:34):
in the NFL, it's hard to have a crystal ball.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
But we really will be focused on, you.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Know, making the decisions that we think can not just
allow us to have a you know, a ten or
eleven win blip, but really allow us to stay there.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
And so that will be balancing about the short term
and long.
Speaker 11 (12:50):
Term and why about something like that?
Speaker 3 (12:52):
And wants to know the plan?
Speaker 6 (12:54):
How important is transparency to.
Speaker 11 (12:56):
You and how much do you feel like that is your.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Job to provide the information to players to make sure
that they know what they're going into.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, Cam, it's a it's a great question.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know, We've always believed in having direct, in hotest
communication with our with our players.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
It's something that we do regularly.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
It's something that we do, you know, particularly the longer
term things really more at the end of the year,
that's what we views more of an appropriate time as
opposed to the.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
End of the season.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
So that's something that has been like a regular part
of our I guess a part of our fabric. And
you know, look, everyone in the organization has so much
investment this time, energy, sweat, equity, and I think you
guys know Miles, he he wants to win. He puts
everything into it, and he's one of our cornerstone, cornerstone players.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Given the way that I'll get you next, actually, first
let him be a gentleman.
Speaker 11 (13:55):
So Nick Chop, I mean last year we were so complimentary,
But do you still envision him having a future here
and can he get back to being a top back?
Speaker 6 (14:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
You know, Actually I want to start by saying, I
think everybody in this room knows how much respect that
we have for Nick and how much appreciation we have
for you. Know, not just like his his exploits on
the field, but who he is in the locker room
and who he is as a person. You know, it's
it's always a challenging situation when you know one of
your cornerstone players their their contract is up. That's probably
(14:26):
maybe a little bit the different situation you know, this
year relative to you know, relative to last where there
is maybe perhaps a little bit you know, less control
on the club side with you know, with it.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
You know, those are all.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Decisions that we do have to work through in the
next several weeks. We love Nick, He's he's going to
be a Ring of Honor player for us, and and
and we know that in terms of the short term,
you know, that's that's something that quite honest, So we
just have to work through over the next several weeks.
Speaker 8 (14:55):
Andrew I wanted to ask, given the way Deshawn's time,
Shawn's tenure, current tenure in Cleveland, and even the way
his season ended with some fans appearing to boo to cheer,
and your conversations with him, has he like uh told
you that he like does want to remain in Cleveland
and being the starting quarterback of this team went went healthy.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, I'd say this, Daniel DeShawn is number one. He's
very focused on on on getting healthy, you know, for
all the obvious reasons, like that's that's that's the first
thing that's top of mind. You know, Deshawn's invested in
being here like that's you know that no point has
he given an indication in terms of not wanting to
(15:35):
be here or leaving the city or anything along those lines.
He's really focused on getting himself healthy and you know,
performing to performing to a higher level.
Speaker 10 (15:45):
Well, you've shown a willingness to I don't want to
say ignore red flags, but be a little maybe a
little more tolerant of some red flags. What what through
the player acquisition process? My question is because that hasn't
paid dividends that I think everyone.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Was hoping for.
Speaker 10 (16:03):
Where you reevaluate that part as far as like maybe
some of your red flag non negotiables when when you're
looking at bringing in some players.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, there.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I think every individual is unique, you know, I think
there are there are no perfect people, and you know,
I think part of our responsibility as an organization is
to help guys to grow mature, not just on the field,
but you know, also with like their lives and careers.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Each situation is different.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
You know, there are some situations that you know, we
do have an infrastructure to support and help in some
situations that we don't. And there also is like you know,
individual ownership that that comes with it. So you know,
we evisuate, We evaluate those situations on a case by
case basis with the information that we have. You know,
some of them will work out, some of them, some
of them won't. I think that's kind of the nature
(16:57):
of it, you know, really in every in every building.
But you know, we we really do want to support
and help our guys grow.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Hey, go back to the offense and the change that
were made.
Speaker 12 (17:07):
Last year, is my understanding, you reached out to Buffalo
and got a pretty honest evaluations of King's strengths and weaknesses.
Who was behind the decision to bring kick here? And
then why were you still comfortable bringing him on when
you got a pretty one assessment from Buffalo?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
What didn't work there?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, So, you know, Jason, I'd say number one when
it comes to the coaching staff, that's you know, that's
Kevin's decision, it's Kevin's Kevin's responsibility. Number two, like with
anyone that we bring into the organization. We do, we
do do.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
A lot of diligence as as you reference.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
You know, really the stuff out of Buffalo was you
know what, Actually, let me back up for a second.
I think, and Kevin mentioned this yesterday, the offensive struggles,
they were not just about Ken, Like, I think it
would be unfair of us to to suggest that because
we didn't perform appropriately on offense, that you know, that
(18:01):
it would be pinned on him, because that's you know,
that's that's just not the it's just not the case.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
I'd say.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Secondly, you know, Ken was an excellent professional. He's a
good coach. You know, he's he's he's really strong in
a number of areas, you know, particularly all our po game,
the temple world, the pass game, things like that. I
think the circumstances this year across a variety of levels.
You know, we're you know, we're not ideal for the
(18:28):
offensive staff just being just being quite blunt. But in
terms of Ken Dorsey, he's he's a good coach. You know,
all the work that that we had done on him,
that Kevin had done on him, you know, we felt
really comfortable with with what we were bringing into the building.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
You know, he's he's going to land on his feet
and he's going to be successful.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
When you when you examined your missus was not bringing
Flaco back a good miss or bad mess.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, I'd say this, you know, Tony, you know, in
terms of like the the backup quarterback, you know, world,
I don't know that really what we had on the
offensive side of the ball and how we played on offense.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Would have been influenced by like one change in the decision.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I think it was probably a variety of things that
that you know, led to our challenges out to that
side the ball.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
We we you.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Know, we didn't play we didn't play as consistently upfront
as we're accustomed to doing. Obviously, we dealt with injuries
and inconsistency at quarterback. We dealt with injuries at the
end of the year. At the skill positions. We turned
the ball over a lot. I don't know that there
was a you know, a cure all decision, you know,
regardless of quarterback or any other position that would have
(19:47):
changed the fortunes of the offense.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
You know, it's collective collective failure for us there.
Speaker 9 (19:52):
Injury when it's just the first week of January. And
there's maybe not an exact answer for this, but where
are you guys with the twenty five quarterback class in
relation to.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Are you need to be in a few months.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, we're in a good spot. Like we we always
work ahead with the draft process. It's it's it's like
a year and a half thing for us. We've obviously
finished up the college scouting season now that all the
or almost all the college games are done. Obviously we
have the college Football Playoff and everything, and our scouts are,
you know, really gearing up for you know, the all
star games that are coming up at the end or
(20:22):
some that have already started, and then some the major
ones that are coming up at the end of the month.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
So we feel like we're in a good spot.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Obviously, we've got a long way to go before we
know the draft class intimately, but fortunately those are decisions
that we have to make until end of April.
Speaker 9 (20:38):
When yourself, do you anymore than normal with.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
With your courtbun so you know, to be honest, like, yeah,
I do a fairmount. I do a fair mount in
the fall, and so I I think I've said before
that we really go into the process with the idea
that we have an expansion team, right, so we want
to make sure that we're covered across all positions, regardless
of you know, what our needs are coming out of
the season. And a big part of that is because
(21:02):
pretty much every year the needs that you think going in,
there's at least some level of change coming out of it.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
But we feel like we're going to be in a
good spot there.
Speaker 7 (21:10):
And Andrew, when you go through like a business makes
a sucist significant move like you did with WATS and
all the assets of everything to go into it, that
xploes backwards.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
From whatever you want to call out this. So one,
have you looked at where that went wrong? And secondly
that how do you recover what's.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
Again accountscept three million or whenever we're on the gap in the.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Next couple of years. So can you address pull where
it went wrong? And then how do you recover?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, so I'd say, you know, Terry, you know probably
first and foremost, I think that you know to date
that the trade hasn't gone as we had hoped or anticipated,
hasn't gone how you and DeShawn has hoped or anticipated.
I think certainly a big part of it is you know,
the stop start with availability and that you know, we
(21:57):
we never have gotten consistent perform it's at you know,
at that at that position. I think there's a variety
of factors in that. That's not just you know, not
just the quarterback. You know, we all share in in
culpability with that. The one thing is like when you
do you know, looking you know, we've never been afraid
to take big swings, things that we think can help
(22:19):
the team and help the organization. You know, sometimes you'll
sometimes you'll hit, and sometimes they won't.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Go quite according to quite according to plan.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
But the one thing that we always do look at
is you understand, with with any with any business where
you take on risk or you where you make decisions,
you understand that there is both like upside and downside.
There's no such thing as like a riskless transaction. And
one thing that we always do want to do is
is really protect you know, protect our downside as much
(22:49):
as you can, and you know we will be positioned,
you know, moving forward. You know, both from a cap
perspective and I hate how we got here, but you
with having the second pick in the aft, whether we
select a player or use it, to to to you know, maximize.
In another way, it gives us an opportunity to to
(23:10):
really to really pivot if we need to let me
let me go here first, and I'll come back to you, Daryl,
just because you've asked one along.
Speaker 13 (23:19):
The lines of where you guys are in the draft,
how does the last three years I'm not having a
first round pick sort of impact or influence how you
guys will kind of treat both I guess the number
two pick, but also kind of what you do, like
do you feel like you almost is there any sort
of sense you'd needed to play catch.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Up a little bit and try to get some player,
certainly when you're like in a you know, when you're
in a deficit from a draft asset perspective, like, you know,
it does create certain it can create certain challenges. That's
not necessarily how we would look at it at this point,
not necessarily in terms of you know, creating catchups or trying.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
To catch up so to speak.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
We'd actually really probably look at it from like, Okay,
as we analyze the roster, you know, who are our
core players short term and long term? You know, what
are some of the areas where you know, we would
need to make some immediate improvements, versus, hey, this is
something that's maybe a longer term, lurking need and really
operate from there, because it's it's it's it's less about
(24:15):
what's happened in the past.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
That's, you know, to some degree irrelevant at.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
That point, and more about where are we starting from
a from a baseline standpoint, and that's how we'll make
decisions moving forward.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Let me, I promise, I promised.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
They all first, compounding the results to date following the
Watson trade, fans are watching the success that Baker is
having a Tampa Bay and they're asking, why on earth
could that not happen here? So could you just, in
whatever way possible maybe explain to fans why it was
so necessary to move on from Baker and why he
(24:49):
could not, you know, be ready to achieve the success
that he's now having elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, So first, first to day, it's like, you know,
Baker's doing a terrific job in Tampa and certainly happy
for him.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
I know.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
You obviously he created a lot of really great memories
for us here. I think Darryl like a big part
of you know, quarterback success or failure, you know, it
can be it can be environment, and you know, I
think the environment that these guys come into can play
a huge part in terms of their development. Baker is
obviously a really talented quarterback, and I think part of
(25:27):
like what we go through in terms of like our
ups and downs, whether it's personal or professional, there also
is individual growth. But he's doing a great job and
doing a great job in Tampa. I think he's grown
as a player, he's grown as a person. And you
obviously they're you know, they're in a good place there.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Andrew you talked earlier about you know, a coach, you know,
using a system that fits a quarterback or at.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Least like you know, tweaking it.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
But when you think about quarterback environments and when you
acquired a sean Kevin had a track record of doing
a certain type of offense in the NFL and succeeding with it,
and DeShawn had a track record.
Speaker 14 (26:09):
Of succeeding in Houston with it with with another type.
Has that difference between the two philosophies and styles trying
to make it all work together, has that been a
greater obstacle than maybe anticipated.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
When he made the deal.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
It's it's a good question, Nate. I think that.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
It's I think it's unfair to put either Kevin or
DeShawn in a box, understanding that you know, what he
did in Houston and what we were doing before the trade,
you know, were different schematically. But that being said, like
Kevin's been a part of a number of different systems
throughout his career. He's he's a very smart offensive mind.
(26:52):
He's able to he's able to adjust and adapt, and
you know, I think he'd probably tell you there's actually
a lot of overlap in in many different office systems.
You may get to you may get to different concepts
in in in different ways or you know, I guess
really just in different ways. Uh. But I think that's
there's probably a little bit too much made of that.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Look, it hasn't, you know.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yielded the the impact that you know that we had
had hoped it would be easy to still distill it
into any one thing. But I do think that there's
perhaps a little bit too much made out of that.
Speaker 11 (27:33):
What do you envision there? I mean, is there a
world that Judge Willis is back here? And did you
guys see enough out of Duan Jones to feel like
have an evaluation of him over there.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, so maybe to start with Jed, it's probably like
all of our players with expiring deals, where you know,
there's we've got to work through all of that in
the next in the next several weeks, you know. With
the wand we did feel like he was actually you know,
hitting his stride before he got injured, you know, middle
of the year. It is funny because Kevin was like, hey,
(28:03):
you don't, let's just kick him over to left tackle
during during one of the practice weeks, and then we
had the injury. It was like, oh, well, I guess
he's got to play the next week.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
It ended up being I.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Guess, uh uh, you know, pressy and if you if
you speak, And I think the Wanders ares credit because
it's really like the first time in his career that
he's played at the spot with probably minimal preparation, and
you know, he he acclimated pretty pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
How that spot.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Looks going into twenty twenty five, it's probably too early,
too early to tell, but we did feel like it
was good to get him some game experience at that position.
Speaker 12 (28:37):
Oh, off, environment, do you feel like this environment here
is good enough? Like it's conducive, its conducive of winning
a winning culture.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I do, I do, Andrew would quarterback. Obviously you're going
to need to add some there. Did you look at
how the landscape for the off season might be.
Speaker 9 (28:53):
Do you feel it, Number one, there will be quality
veterans available as freeze into your.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Trade and could you see hearing that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And with a top record, I'd say Scott that I
think there's opportunity every off season. You know, I wouldn't
necessarily constrain us to any you know, one way of attacking,
whether it's the quarterback position or any position across the roster.
We've always prided ourselves on being opportunistic, and you know
(29:22):
there are probably also opportunities that you know, we don't
see today that will pop up over the next several months.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
So we'll be flexible in that regard.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
You can give a j ok update please, I'll be honest, Jef,
I don't have anything other than what Kevin told you
guys yesterday.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
You know he's he's still working.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
In the rehab and when we have a meaningful update,
we'll make sure we share next year as well. I said,
that's our hope for sure. But again with these long
term injuries. I don't I really don't have a crystal
ball with it.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
And can you sort of explain what what the Deshaun
Watson extension actually did for you guys and what might
happen with that.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
No, I definitely understand and respect the question, Mary kay,
But you know, I you know, you know, I don't
talk about you know, contracts in this setting.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
What do you like about this quarterback class coming up?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
You know what, I think every every class has its strengths.
I'm probably probably not the appropriate time for me to
go into detail on the prospect class. I do get,
you know, get the question. But I'm sure there will
be guys that that we like as we work.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Through it, and you and Kevin have a lot of
big decisions. The entire organization is, but you guys ahead
of it, I have a lot of big decisions coming.
How important is it for you guys to maintain alignment
through this offseason as you you know, you're trying to
(30:47):
recover in.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Three and fourteen.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
It's huge, Nate, you know, but you know, the good
thing is I always say that we work side by side,
and we fight back to back. I have a ton
of respect for Kevin on a personal level. On a
professional level, he's a great coach. I'm really not worried about,
you know that part of it because I have a
fantastic partner Andrew.
Speaker 11 (31:11):
Assuming that DeShawn Watson comes back healthy, have you seen
enough and what have you seen that leads you to
believe that he can still play.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Winning football for the Leap?
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And I'll be honest, Mary Kay, like our our focus
with Deshaun, especially after yesterday, is getting him healthy and
it really starts with that and and making sure that
he's physically right where you know, he can play to
the best of his ability when he's on the field,
and and that's really where our that's really where our
focus is with.
Speaker 12 (31:41):
Him being the Hall injury starts Mike Hall taking any
surgery after that.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Mr, So, he did sustain an injury that you know
will be in the will be in the months. Uh,
surgery certainly is a is a possibility, you know, but
he should should return and perform. Scott, I kind of
put this in the bucket of and I'll go back
to last year at this time when we had maybe
(32:09):
estimates with some of our key players and they probably
they probably went a little bit longer than normal. So
I'm trying to handle it a little bit differently this year,
just because with these longer term injuries, it is a
little bit more it is a little bit more variable,
and I don't want to lead you astray.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Chance you could be ready for next to be that's correct, Yeah,
that's correct.
Speaker 10 (32:28):
All right.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
I appreciate you guys. All right, take it easy.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
That'll do it for this episode of the From the
Podium Podcast. Be sure to like an subscribe to the
show wherever you get your podcasts. Keep it locked to
Cleveland Browns daily each weekday, and follow the Browns on
social media for more coverage from the Cross Country Mortgage
Campus right here in Berea. I'm Gabe Kleura. Thanks for
listening to the From the Podium Podcast.
Welcome to a special edition of the From the Podium podcast.
I'm Gabe Klea. As is customary, at the conclusion of
the season, Brown's general manager and executive vice president, Andrew
Berry addressed the media. Here is that press conference now.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
All right, sit here in front of you with a
season where we just won three games, and I really
share in our fans disappointment frustration. Quite honestly, I'm embarrassed
with the results that we've had as a team this year.
Just plainly put, we didn't meet expectations. Our decisions coming
(00:39):
into the year didn't meet expectations, and ultimately that responsibility
it lies at my feet, you know, thinking back a
little bit too a year ago where we were coming
off in eleven one season going into the playoffs. Our
goal has always been to perform at that level or
a higher level on.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
A consistent basis.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
And in order for us to do that, especially as
we look at this season, you know, we really have
to look at everything. It's it's you know, an objective
and hard analysis at you know, at each position group
and the roster. It's you know, looking at what we're
doing to put our our players in the best position
to be successful. It's looking about how we practice, how
(01:19):
we train to avoid, you know, the major losses that
we've had in player availability over the past couple of years.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
We really do have to look at everything.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I think it probably goes without saying that to reach
that level of consistency, you know, we have to have
consistent availability and consistent performance at the QB position as well.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And that's something that's been.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Elusive for us for the past couple of seasons, and
that's something that we have to be able to fix
in remedy. I'll share you know with you all this
morning that you know, I was recently listening to John
Maxwell talking John Maxwell, he's a uh former pastor, a
long time I'M Leadership executive coach. He was like a
(02:02):
New York Times bestseller and he was talking about he
was talking about the topic of how to get a
positive return on failure and he used this term he
talked about like good misses and bad misses. And it
stuck with me because I've listened to Kevin coach quarterbacks
for five years and he uses the same terminology where
it's like, hey, you're gonna miss throws, but let's make
sure they're a good miss or a bad miss And
(02:24):
the way John categorized you know, good failure or excuse me,
good misses versus bad misses is with good misses they
force you to adjust. Their failures where you learn and
you have to adjust where the bad misses they're the
ones where you don't learn anything and you make excuses.
And we have a lot of good people in our
(02:45):
organization from you know, core group of players, good coaches,
good people in football operations. We will make adjustments and
we will learn from this and we will grow for this.
I will learn from this and I will grow from
this to ultimately deliver the results that you know, our
fan base deserves and in our organization return deserves. The
last thing I'll do before I open up with questions,
(03:07):
I did want to give an update on Deshaun so yesterday,
as we went through our normal player you know medical process,
we did learn that he did have a setback in
his you know, Achilles recovery. We don't have all the
details and everything yet, but it obviously obviously extend the
(03:28):
recovery process for him. It is new information, just learned
in the past couple hours, so I don't have everything yet,
but did want to make you all aware of it
before before opening up for questions.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So with that, I'll leave it to you.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
As far as Deshaun's concerned, that is that take him
out of their running for next year or how does
that impact.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Him coming into game?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, Tom, it's it's too it's too early. It's too
early to tell. I don't have all the information. Obviously,
in a situation like that, you know, I don't want
to one thing I said I have learned from this year.
I don't want to rule out anything with a with
a major injury. We are still collecting all the information
and you know, obviously our focus is making sure that
he can get as healthy as possible.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I got this yesterday. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
So we typically in our end of the end of
your process, all the players go through what we call
exit physicals, and it's something that we learned yesterday.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
How did this step back for her? Or you have
a view?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Does he even know? Yeah, I don't. I don't have
all those details, Nate.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know, obviously it's it's pretty fresh information and we'll
work through that the next couple of days.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
When he got examined, like did he know something was
wrong or is this a new information for him in the.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Love I'm sorry say the last part of the informed.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
So he got examined, right, Did he know something was
wrong or was that news?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yes? He did, he did.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
He did raise it to the He did raise it
to the docs that something didn't feel right and everything
like that, and then you know, we realized had.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
A set back.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You expect him to another again, Scott like, it's it's
it's all like, I'm not trying to be evasive areas,
it is all really new. I can't. I can't rule
anything out, but I will know more in the next
couple of days and weeks. Yeah, I guess that I
don't have all the details, you know, Mary kay, And
honestly I don't. I don't necessarily want to go into
all that until I have all the information.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
But that's that's all I have for now.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
What had that what had been the timeline before this setback?
Speaker 6 (05:13):
Did you guys have an opt you know, what had
been kind of an optimistic outlook about when you expected
him to be back doing football and participating in football.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
You know, because he was still early in his recovery,
and he was you know, we felt like he was
progressing appropriately, you know, as I think back to like
this year, when we've had guys who have had major
surgeries or injuries, the timelines really can be variable until
you get a little bit further on, like we you know,
we experienced that with you know, with certain players this,
you know, this past year. So it was probably still
(05:43):
too early in the process to say whether it's like
he's optimistic or he's he's he's ahead of schedule, he's
behind schedule, but we felt like he was at least
progressing appropriately.
Speaker 6 (05:53):
You've drafted one quarterback in five years, and of course
Watson's the biggest acquisition you made. Do you think you
need to fix the process in finding the next quarterback?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, Tony, it's it's it's a good question.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I think as we go into the off season, like
we have to, we have to look at everything like
we really, we really do, and you know, we want
to make sure that we're eyes wide open in terms
of you know what you know, what we're what we're
doing across football operations. That being said, you know, we
have good people, we have good coaches. We understand how
(06:27):
important the quarterback position is, you know, and that's obviously
going to be a primary goal as we entered the
off season, how do you.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
Look at how did the decision to change the offensive
coaching staff around and the coaches the whole offense thing,
you know, how did that come about last year?
Speaker 5 (06:43):
And then where are you with that going forward.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Into this year?
Speaker 8 (06:46):
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, So I think whenever you talk about coaching staff,
you know, Kevin's goal is to make sure that he
surrounds our players and builds a system that can accentuate,
accentuate their strengths in really minimum their their weaknesses. Any
decision that he makes in that regard is you know,
is really with you know, is really with that in mind.
(07:07):
A lot of things didn't go well for us offensively.
We didn't we didn't perform up the standard. We didn't
perform you know, nearly nearly well enough. And I know
when you know, Kevin met with you all yesterday, he
was talking about he wants to make sure that we
have a sound and explosive offense and that'll really be
the focus for us moving forward.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
With Kevin's idea to kind of get away from sort
of the things that they had done well in the past.
Speaker 8 (07:29):
Walking and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, I'd say this, Terry, the probably the better way
to characters that, like Kevin believes in putting a system
around the players, like around the player strains, and the
nature of the NFL is that your players, they they
will change from year to year. You know what we
may have been good, well, we may have been good
at in twenty twenty maybe different than twenty twenty one
(07:52):
or twenty twenty three, different than twenty twenty four. Obviously,
like what we put together this year wasn't good enough.
You know, we didn't play well enough on that side
of the ball, you know, but have full faith that
that that Kevin will be able to to put it
together and allows that have better results.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
So would you want to is a goal on to
kind of get back to the basics of where they
work at It seems like the quarterbacks wide open. He'll
go anywhere with this and so offensively, would you go
back to what was working?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, I think this, Like and Kevin mentioned this, it's
probably less about you know, what specifically we do in
the run game or what's specifically in the past game,
but sound and explosive and however that comes together and
fits our players best.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
That's the way that he'll go.
Speaker 8 (08:42):
Impact your quarterback acquisition strategy.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I wouldn't say that it has a significant impact. Mary Kay,
I think you know the reality of it is, you
know that room, you know it will look different, you
know next year. You know it may obviously impact how
you know, what the room looks like as we enter
enter the season or camp, depending on the severity of
the you know, the setback.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
But I wouldn't say that it had a significant impact.
Speaker 9 (09:11):
When you look at your look at your roster, do
you think it if it did not play up to
its potential, how will that affect the way you restructure
it for next season?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I think you know, Jeff, you know, we'll look at everything.
I think I think it would be naive to suggest
that there won't be turnover in different in different rooms.
Like our goal is to make the decisions necessary to
you know, make improvements both in the short term and
the long.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Term foundation of the team.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
We do have guys that we like that that you
know we'll be a part of both. But you know,
there are going to have to be some changes that
we do that we do make with the team that.
Speaker 10 (09:51):
Players don't feel like they were put in a position
to be successful and the good organization played to how
the team was built and their strengths as individuals. And
you know, part of that too, is is with what
Miles had to say a couple of weeks ago about
his frustrations with the state of affairs. So I guess
just in your exit process with these players, I'm going
(10:13):
to ask you to reveal confidential conversations, but just what
was the message to players like Miles and those that
felt like they were not put in a position to
be successful this year as far as making sure that
doesn't happen in.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I'd say first, Daryl, that I think everybody shares in
the frustration of this of the season, our fans, our players,
our coaches, ownership, you know, football operations. Everybody realizes that
just the results weren't weren't good enough.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
That being said, I think there's there is shared ownership.
It's not just it's not just one thing. You know,
there were areas where we could have buttressed the roster better.
There are things that we could have done on the
sidelines better. There were things that you know, our best
players they have to play up to their potential. You know,
that's also an element of it, and so you know,
(11:02):
we all share in it because the reality of it is,
when you win three games, I wish it was just
one thing, but it's a it's a collective failure.
Speaker 11 (11:10):
Andrew, do you obviously, Miles was strong about not wanting
to go to the rebuild.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
First of all, do you think a rebuild, Taradot is necessary?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yes, Scot, I don't ension an off season where we're
you know, moving on from a ton of core players.
Like I think a lot of the decisions as we
think about, you know, some of the areas that we
may need to strategically pivot is going to be about
both short term and long term decisions. So like I
do expect there to be some some turnover on the roster,
but the idea that we would get rid of, you know,
(11:38):
some of our cornerstone players, you know, I don't necessarily
see that as a viable path he.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Can win next year? Did you did, Miles? I guess
by the blueprint that he was looking for.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Okay, maybe I'll answer that in two parts. So let
me say, in terms of Miles, my anticipation, expectation is
that he'll have a you know, a direct ticket from Cleveland.
The Canton at the end of the year and expect
him to be here, you know, and retire Brown quite frankly,
in terms of winning, like you know, our goal is
always going to be to win our wait, oh, goal
(12:09):
is always going to be to improve the team.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I think, you know, one of the beauties of the NFL.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I think I guess maybe a parallel you think about
the team that was holding the two pick last year,
We're going to see them next week play I'm not
quite sure where they played, Peter, but we see Washington
playing in the playoffs this year. So you can never
really never, never really put necessarily a timeframe on it.
Like you know, with player movement and how things change
(12:34):
in the NFL, it's hard to have a crystal ball.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
But we really will be focused on, you.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Know, making the decisions that we think can not just
allow us to have a you know, a ten or
eleven win blip, but really allow us to stay there.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
And so that will be balancing about the short term
and long.
Speaker 11 (12:50):
Term and why about something like that?
Speaker 3 (12:52):
And wants to know the plan?
Speaker 6 (12:54):
How important is transparency to.
Speaker 11 (12:56):
You and how much do you feel like that is your.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Job to provide the information to players to make sure
that they know what they're going into.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, Cam, it's a it's a great question.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know, We've always believed in having direct, in hotest
communication with our with our players.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
It's something that we do regularly.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
It's something that we do, you know, particularly the longer
term things really more at the end of the year,
that's what we views more of an appropriate time as
opposed to the.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
End of the season.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
So that's something that has been like a regular part
of our I guess a part of our fabric. And
you know, look, everyone in the organization has so much
investment this time, energy, sweat, equity, and I think you
guys know Miles, he he wants to win. He puts
everything into it, and he's one of our cornerstone, cornerstone players.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Given the way that I'll get you next, actually, first
let him be a gentleman.
Speaker 11 (13:55):
So Nick Chop, I mean last year we were so complimentary,
But do you still envision him having a future here
and can he get back to being a top back?
Speaker 6 (14:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
You know, Actually I want to start by saying, I
think everybody in this room knows how much respect that
we have for Nick and how much appreciation we have
for you. Know, not just like his his exploits on
the field, but who he is in the locker room
and who he is as a person. You know, it's
it's always a challenging situation when you know one of
your cornerstone players their their contract is up. That's probably
(14:26):
maybe a little bit the different situation you know, this
year relative to you know, relative to last where there
is maybe perhaps a little bit you know, less control
on the club side with you know, with it.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
You know, those are all.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Decisions that we do have to work through in the
next several weeks. We love Nick, He's he's going to
be a Ring of Honor player for us, and and
and we know that in terms of the short term,
you know, that's that's something that quite honest, So we
just have to work through over the next several weeks.
Speaker 8 (14:55):
Andrew I wanted to ask, given the way Deshawn's time,
Shawn's tenure, current tenure in Cleveland, and even the way
his season ended with some fans appearing to boo to cheer,
and your conversations with him, has he like uh told
you that he like does want to remain in Cleveland
and being the starting quarterback of this team went went healthy.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, I'd say this, Daniel DeShawn is number one. He's
very focused on on on getting healthy, you know, for
all the obvious reasons, like that's that's that's the first
thing that's top of mind. You know, Deshawn's invested in
being here like that's you know that no point has
he given an indication in terms of not wanting to
(15:35):
be here or leaving the city or anything along those lines.
He's really focused on getting himself healthy and you know,
performing to performing to a higher level.
Speaker 10 (15:45):
Well, you've shown a willingness to I don't want to
say ignore red flags, but be a little maybe a
little more tolerant of some red flags. What what through
the player acquisition process? My question is because that hasn't
paid dividends that I think everyone.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Was hoping for.
Speaker 10 (16:03):
Where you reevaluate that part as far as like maybe
some of your red flag non negotiables when when you're
looking at bringing in some players.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, there.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I think every individual is unique, you know, I think
there are there are no perfect people, and you know,
I think part of our responsibility as an organization is
to help guys to grow mature, not just on the field,
but you know, also with like their lives and careers.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Each situation is different.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
You know, there are some situations that you know, we
do have an infrastructure to support and help in some
situations that we don't. And there also is like you know,
individual ownership that that comes with it. So you know,
we evisuate, We evaluate those situations on a case by
case basis with the information that we have. You know,
some of them will work out, some of them, some
of them won't. I think that's kind of the nature
(16:57):
of it, you know, really in every in every building.
But you know, we we really do want to support
and help our guys grow.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Hey, go back to the offense and the change that
were made.
Speaker 12 (17:07):
Last year, is my understanding, you reached out to Buffalo
and got a pretty honest evaluations of King's strengths and weaknesses.
Who was behind the decision to bring kick here? And
then why were you still comfortable bringing him on when
you got a pretty one assessment from Buffalo?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
What didn't work there?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, So, you know, Jason, I'd say number one when
it comes to the coaching staff, that's you know, that's
Kevin's decision, it's Kevin's Kevin's responsibility. Number two, like with
anyone that we bring into the organization. We do, we
do do.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
A lot of diligence as as you reference.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
You know, really the stuff out of Buffalo was you
know what, Actually, let me back up for a second.
I think, and Kevin mentioned this yesterday, the offensive struggles,
they were not just about Ken, Like, I think it
would be unfair of us to to suggest that because
we didn't perform appropriately on offense, that you know, that
(18:01):
it would be pinned on him, because that's you know,
that's that's just not the it's just not the case.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
I'd say.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Secondly, you know, Ken was an excellent professional. He's a
good coach. You know, he's he's he's really strong in
a number of areas, you know, particularly all our po game,
the temple world, the pass game, things like that. I
think the circumstances this year across a variety of levels.
You know, we're you know, we're not ideal for the
(18:28):
offensive staff just being just being quite blunt. But in
terms of Ken Dorsey, he's he's a good coach. You know,
all the work that that we had done on him,
that Kevin had done on him, you know, we felt
really comfortable with with what we were bringing into the building.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
You know, he's he's going to land on his feet
and he's going to be successful.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
When you when you examined your missus was not bringing
Flaco back a good miss or bad mess.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, I'd say this, you know, Tony, you know, in
terms of like the the backup quarterback, you know, world,
I don't know that really what we had on the
offensive side of the ball and how we played on offense.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Would have been influenced by like one change in the decision.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I think it was probably a variety of things that
that you know, led to our challenges out to that
side the ball.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
We we you.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Know, we didn't play we didn't play as consistently upfront
as we're accustomed to doing. Obviously, we dealt with injuries
and inconsistency at quarterback. We dealt with injuries at the
end of the year. At the skill positions. We turned
the ball over a lot. I don't know that there
was a you know, a cure all decision, you know,
regardless of quarterback or any other position that would have
(19:47):
changed the fortunes of the offense.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
You know, it's collective collective failure for us there.
Speaker 9 (19:52):
Injury when it's just the first week of January. And
there's maybe not an exact answer for this, but where
are you guys with the twenty five quarterback class in
relation to.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Are you need to be in a few months.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, we're in a good spot. Like we we always
work ahead with the draft process. It's it's it's like
a year and a half thing for us. We've obviously
finished up the college scouting season now that all the
or almost all the college games are done. Obviously we
have the college Football Playoff and everything, and our scouts are,
you know, really gearing up for you know, the all
star games that are coming up at the end or
(20:22):
some that have already started, and then some the major
ones that are coming up at the end of the month.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
So we feel like we're in a good spot.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Obviously, we've got a long way to go before we
know the draft class intimately, but fortunately those are decisions
that we have to make until end of April.
Speaker 9 (20:38):
When yourself, do you anymore than normal with.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
With your courtbun so you know, to be honest, like, yeah,
I do a fairmount. I do a fair mount in
the fall, and so I I think I've said before
that we really go into the process with the idea
that we have an expansion team, right, so we want
to make sure that we're covered across all positions, regardless
of you know, what our needs are coming out of
the season. And a big part of that is because
(21:02):
pretty much every year the needs that you think going in,
there's at least some level of change coming out of it.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
But we feel like we're going to be in a
good spot there.
Speaker 7 (21:10):
And Andrew, when you go through like a business makes
a sucist significant move like you did with WATS and
all the assets of everything to go into it, that
xploes backwards.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
From whatever you want to call out this. So one,
have you looked at where that went wrong? And secondly
that how do you recover what's.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
Again accountscept three million or whenever we're on the gap in the.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Next couple of years. So can you address pull where
it went wrong? And then how do you recover?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, so I'd say, you know, Terry, you know probably
first and foremost, I think that you know to date
that the trade hasn't gone as we had hoped or anticipated,
hasn't gone how you and DeShawn has hoped or anticipated.
I think certainly a big part of it is you know,
the stop start with availability and that you know, we
(21:57):
we never have gotten consistent perform it's at you know,
at that at that position. I think there's a variety
of factors in that. That's not just you know, not
just the quarterback. You know, we all share in in
culpability with that. The one thing is like when you
do you know, looking you know, we've never been afraid
to take big swings, things that we think can help
(22:19):
the team and help the organization. You know, sometimes you'll
sometimes you'll hit, and sometimes they won't.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Go quite according to quite according to plan.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
But the one thing that we always do look at
is you understand, with with any with any business where
you take on risk or you where you make decisions,
you understand that there is both like upside and downside.
There's no such thing as like a riskless transaction. And
one thing that we always do want to do is
is really protect you know, protect our downside as much
(22:49):
as you can, and you know we will be positioned,
you know, moving forward. You know, both from a cap
perspective and I hate how we got here, but you
with having the second pick in the aft, whether we
select a player or use it, to to to you know, maximize.
In another way, it gives us an opportunity to to
(23:10):
really to really pivot if we need to let me
let me go here first, and I'll come back to you, Daryl,
just because you've asked one along.
Speaker 13 (23:19):
The lines of where you guys are in the draft,
how does the last three years I'm not having a
first round pick sort of impact or influence how you
guys will kind of treat both I guess the number
two pick, but also kind of what you do, like
do you feel like you almost is there any sort
of sense you'd needed to play catch.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Up a little bit and try to get some player,
certainly when you're like in a you know, when you're
in a deficit from a draft asset perspective, like, you know,
it does create certain it can create certain challenges. That's
not necessarily how we would look at it at this point,
not necessarily in terms of you know, creating catchups or trying.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
To catch up so to speak.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
We'd actually really probably look at it from like, Okay,
as we analyze the roster, you know, who are our
core players short term and long term? You know, what
are some of the areas where you know, we would
need to make some immediate improvements, versus, hey, this is
something that's maybe a longer term, lurking need and really
operate from there, because it's it's it's it's less about
(24:15):
what's happened in the past.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
That's, you know, to some degree irrelevant at.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
That point, and more about where are we starting from
a from a baseline standpoint, and that's how we'll make
decisions moving forward.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Let me, I promise, I promised.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
They all first, compounding the results to date following the
Watson trade, fans are watching the success that Baker is
having a Tampa Bay and they're asking, why on earth
could that not happen here? So could you just, in
whatever way possible maybe explain to fans why it was
so necessary to move on from Baker and why he
(24:49):
could not, you know, be ready to achieve the success
that he's now having elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, So first, first to day, it's like, you know,
Baker's doing a terrific job in Tampa and certainly happy
for him.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
I know.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
You obviously he created a lot of really great memories
for us here. I think Darryl like a big part
of you know, quarterback success or failure, you know, it
can be it can be environment, and you know, I
think the environment that these guys come into can play
a huge part in terms of their development. Baker is
obviously a really talented quarterback, and I think part of
(25:27):
like what we go through in terms of like our
ups and downs, whether it's personal or professional, there also
is individual growth. But he's doing a great job and
doing a great job in Tampa. I think he's grown
as a player, he's grown as a person. And you
obviously they're you know, they're in a good place there.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Andrew you talked earlier about you know, a coach, you know,
using a system that fits a quarterback or at.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Least like you know, tweaking it.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
But when you think about quarterback environments and when you
acquired a sean Kevin had a track record of doing
a certain type of offense in the NFL and succeeding with it,
and DeShawn had a track record.
Speaker 14 (26:09):
Of succeeding in Houston with it with with another type.
Has that difference between the two philosophies and styles trying
to make it all work together, has that been a
greater obstacle than maybe anticipated.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
When he made the deal.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
It's it's a good question, Nate. I think that.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
It's I think it's unfair to put either Kevin or
DeShawn in a box, understanding that you know, what he
did in Houston and what we were doing before the trade,
you know, were different schematically. But that being said, like
Kevin's been a part of a number of different systems
throughout his career. He's he's a very smart offensive mind.
(26:52):
He's able to he's able to adjust and adapt, and
you know, I think he'd probably tell you there's actually
a lot of overlap in in many different office systems.
You may get to you may get to different concepts
in in in different ways or you know, I guess
really just in different ways. Uh. But I think that's
there's probably a little bit too much made of that.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Look, it hasn't, you know.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yielded the the impact that you know that we had
had hoped it would be easy to still distill it
into any one thing. But I do think that there's
perhaps a little bit too much made out of that.
Speaker 11 (27:33):
What do you envision there? I mean, is there a
world that Judge Willis is back here? And did you
guys see enough out of Duan Jones to feel like
have an evaluation of him over there.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, so maybe to start with Jed, it's probably like
all of our players with expiring deals, where you know,
there's we've got to work through all of that in
the next in the next several weeks, you know. With
the wand we did feel like he was actually you know,
hitting his stride before he got injured, you know, middle
of the year. It is funny because Kevin was like, hey,
(28:03):
you don't, let's just kick him over to left tackle
during during one of the practice weeks, and then we
had the injury. It was like, oh, well, I guess
he's got to play the next week.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
It ended up being I.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Guess, uh uh, you know, pressy and if you if
you speak, And I think the Wanders ares credit because
it's really like the first time in his career that
he's played at the spot with probably minimal preparation, and
you know, he he acclimated pretty pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
How that spot.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Looks going into twenty twenty five, it's probably too early,
too early to tell, but we did feel like it
was good to get him some game experience at that position.
Speaker 12 (28:37):
Oh, off, environment, do you feel like this environment here
is good enough? Like it's conducive, its conducive of winning
a winning culture.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I do, I do, Andrew would quarterback. Obviously you're going
to need to add some there. Did you look at
how the landscape for the off season might be.
Speaker 9 (28:53):
Do you feel it, Number one, there will be quality
veterans available as freeze into your.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Trade and could you see hearing that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And with a top record, I'd say Scott that I
think there's opportunity every off season. You know, I wouldn't
necessarily constrain us to any you know, one way of attacking,
whether it's the quarterback position or any position across the roster.
We've always prided ourselves on being opportunistic, and you know
(29:22):
there are probably also opportunities that you know, we don't
see today that will pop up over the next several months.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
So we'll be flexible in that regard.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
You can give a j ok update please, I'll be honest, Jef,
I don't have anything other than what Kevin told you
guys yesterday.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
You know he's he's still working.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
In the rehab and when we have a meaningful update,
we'll make sure we share next year as well. I said,
that's our hope for sure. But again with these long
term injuries. I don't I really don't have a crystal
ball with it.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
And can you sort of explain what what the Deshaun
Watson extension actually did for you guys and what might
happen with that.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
No, I definitely understand and respect the question, Mary kay,
But you know, I you know, you know, I don't
talk about you know, contracts in this setting.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
What do you like about this quarterback class coming up?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
You know what, I think every every class has its strengths.
I'm probably probably not the appropriate time for me to
go into detail on the prospect class. I do get,
you know, get the question. But I'm sure there will
be guys that that we like as we work.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Through it, and you and Kevin have a lot of
big decisions. The entire organization is, but you guys ahead
of it, I have a lot of big decisions coming.
How important is it for you guys to maintain alignment
through this offseason as you you know, you're trying to
(30:47):
recover in.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Three and fourteen.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
It's huge, Nate, you know, but you know, the good
thing is I always say that we work side by side,
and we fight back to back. I have a ton
of respect for Kevin on a personal level. On a
professional level, he's a great coach. I'm really not worried about,
you know that part of it because I have a
fantastic partner Andrew.
Speaker 11 (31:11):
Assuming that DeShawn Watson comes back healthy, have you seen
enough and what have you seen that leads you to
believe that he can still play.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
Winning football for the Leap?
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And I'll be honest, Mary Kay, like our our focus
with Deshaun, especially after yesterday, is getting him healthy and
it really starts with that and and making sure that
he's physically right where you know, he can play to
the best of his ability when he's on the field,
and and that's really where our that's really where our
focus is with.
Speaker 12 (31:41):
Him being the Hall injury starts Mike Hall taking any
surgery after that.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Mr, So, he did sustain an injury that you know
will be in the will be in the months. Uh,
surgery certainly is a is a possibility, you know, but
he should should return and perform. Scott, I kind of
put this in the bucket of and I'll go back
to last year at this time when we had maybe
(32:09):
estimates with some of our key players and they probably
they probably went a little bit longer than normal. So
I'm trying to handle it a little bit differently this year,
just because with these longer term injuries, it is a
little bit more it is a little bit more variable,
and I don't want to lead you astray.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Chance you could be ready for next to be that's correct, Yeah,
that's correct.
Speaker 10 (32:28):
All right.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
I appreciate you guys. All right, take it easy.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
That'll do it for this episode of the From the
Podium Podcast. Be sure to like an subscribe to the
show wherever you get your podcasts. Keep it locked to
Cleveland Browns daily each weekday, and follow the Browns on
social media for more coverage from the Cross Country Mortgage
Campus right here in Berea. I'm Gabe Kleura. Thanks for
listening to the From the Podium Podcast.
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