Brownies & Frownies: Free-Agency Edition – Top hits and misses for the Browns

GM Andrew Berry has had equal portions of success and failure

The Cleveland Browns hired Andrew Berry as their General Manager on January 27, 2020. He had been with Cleveland from 2016-2018 as the vice president of player personnel before moving on to the Philadelphia Eagles as their vice president of football operations. The Browns called and inked him to the GM position one year later.

Browns head coach Hue Jackson had been fired in late October to which DC Gregg Williams took over. After the season, the new head coach, Kevin Stefanski, was hired on January 13, so that was one less thing for Berry to do right off.

Taking care of existing players and deciding which ones to re-sign took priority. Then, it was time to focus on free agency and a month later the 2020 NFL draft.

The very first player Berry signed to the Browns was FB Johnny Stanton who was released and then re-signed to the practice squad several times. Stanton did make five appearances on the active roster with just three carries.

The NFL college draft is the best avenue to build a roster into a competitive team. Contracts are also salary cap friendly, especially in the later stages of the agreement.

However, the free agency period is also an essential portion of roster building. Seasoned veterans who have been allowed to seek employment elsewhere begin filling in holes with able athletes who are plug-and-play. This year, free agents can be signed beginning March 12, with the legal tampering period March 10-12.

The 2025 free agency period will be Berry’s sixth with Cleveland. The Browns finished the 2024 season tied for the worst record in the league at 3-14-0 and it is Berry’s signings that provide the coaching staff what they need as far as players.

On the current roster are several guys who he signed to not just compete for a job, but to come in and be starters. There are other players that have come and gone who did not develop as first thought.

Now that the Super Bowl is completed, it is time to focus on the free agency period. After five free agent classes, how has Berry done with his signings?

Let’s take a look at this “Free-Agent Edition” of Brownies & Frownies.

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Brownies

OT Jack Conklin (signed in 2020) – The talented right tackle has been a roller coaster as far as a starting player. When he plays, Conklin is arguably the best free-agent player Berry has signed. The fact that Conklin has been injured multiple times is not the player’s fault nor Berry’s.

Concussions, ankle, shoulder, knee, and multiple hamstring issues have plagued Conklin during his stint with the Browns. The end result is 34 missed games in his five-year term in Cleveland. That equates to 40% of the games listed on the schedule.

Still, when he plays, he is an exceptional pass-blocker and veteran leader.

P Corey Bojorquez (signed in 2022) – The Green Bay Packers were in salary cap hell and had some hard decisions to make. One was not to re-sign Bojo although they wanted and needed his services. Cleveland had a history with punters and although not a sexy signing, an exceptional punter was now in the building.

Since his time in Cleveland, Bojorquez had averages of 48.5 yards, 49.4 yards, and 49.3 yards. This past year he was ranked #1 in four punting categories and named a Pro Bowl alternate.

DT Shelby Harris (signed in 2023) – Harris had 21.5 sacks as a member of the Denver Broncos before the Broncos placed a second-round restricted free-agent tender on him. He was then traded to the Seattle Seahawks along with draft picks in the Russell Wilson trade. Harris had a disappointing season to which they released him and his large contract.

Berry inked Harris where he brought back his A-game he displayed while in Denver. He hasn’t brought the sack numbers with just three in his two seasons in Cleveland, but what Harris has done is generate numbers to stop the running game from gashing up the middle. He is consistent in this aspect. His Pro Football Focus grade this past season in run defense was 67.9 despite being 33 years old.

LB Anthony Walker (signed 2021) – The middle linebacker spot had been in limbo since Joe Schobert left in free agency, so Berry inked Walker who had a history of high production in the tackling department. In his first season, Walker had 113 total tackles as Cleveland had hit Bingo! with his signing. But that year he suffered a hamstring injury and missed four games.

The following season, he landed on IR when he suffered a torn quad in Week 3. In 2023 he started 12 games with 44 tackles before a knee injury sidelined him for the remainder of the year.

Despite his veteran leadership and production value, the fact that he was hurt every year enabled Berry to let him test the free agent waters which he signed with the Miami Dolphins. In his single season in South Florida, he had 68 tackles but missed seven games due to a hamstring injury.

When he played, he was an awesome addition to the defense and anchored the middle of the defense. But his inability to remain healthy hindered his tenure and explained why Berry kept signing Walker to consecutive one-year deals.

C Ethan Pocic (signed 2022) – A former second-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks, his time in the Pacific Northwest was mainly spent injured as he had back and knee issues and missed 17 games. Browns center J.C. Tretter was released and Pocic was a seasoned veteran. Berry signed him cheaply. After C Nick Harris became injured early in the preseason, Pocic took over and has remained a mainstay along the offensive line since. Before the 2023 training camp began, Berry tied him up for three years with an $18 million extension. Pocic has been steady since coming to Cleveland.

Frownies

TE Austin Hooper (signed 2020) – The signing of Hooper was one of Berry’s very first “splash” moments that was supposed to change the offense as head coach Kevin Stefanski used a lot of two tight end sets. Hooper had gone to two consecutive Pro Bowls and was seen as a receiving giant for the Browns’ offense.

What ensued was two years of mediocrity as Hoop had only 435 and 345 yards, respectively. He scored a mere seven touchdowns.

DE Chris Odom (signed 2022) – It seemed like a great idea: sign the USFL’s Defensive Player of the Year and groom him to be part of the defensive line rotation. But he played zero games that counted for the Browns after he tore his ACL in the final preseason game of 2022. After being placed on IR and a year-long rehab program, he worked hard to get back to playing shape. Since he had inked a one-year deal he simply wasn’t invited back to training camp. And that was that.

K Chase McLaughlin (signed 2021) – This is not a case of signing a guy, but letting him go. McLaughlin had bounced around the league but found a home in Cleveland. He was 4-4 on kicks of 50+ yards so the offense could rely on his strong leg. Berry then drafted Cade York with a valuable fourth-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft and three days later McLaughlin was unemployed.

He signed with the Indianapolis Colts and hit 30 of 36 field goals and didn’t miss a single PAT attempt. McLaughlin finished as the eighth-best kicker in the league. That parlayed into a contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a subsequent three-year extension for $12.3 million. In 2023 he had the eighth-highest field goal percentage at 93.6% and this past season he ranked #3 at 93.8%.

All the while, Cleveland has floundered with kickers since McLaughlin’s departure as they have signed York, Dustin Hopkins, Riley Patterson, Lucas Havrisik, York again, and Andre Szmyt.

S Andrew Sendejo (signed 2020) – The back of the defense needed a hitter and Sendejo was known as a leader who could support the run. Sort of. He had been in the league since 2010 and had played a lot of NFL football when Berry inked him including nine years with the Minnesota Vikings.

Right away, Sendejo became known as a risk taker and a poor tackler. He had issues with not being able to keep up with receivers and became a liability instead of the answer deep in coverage with poor angles taken. There was a Browns fan online petition started to remove him from the lineup which a suggestion to “Fire him out of a cannon into the sun.” Brutal.

S John Johnson III (signed 2021) and S Juan Thornhill (2023) – This pair has similar traits so they are grouped together.

Johnson, taken in the third round of the 2017 NFL draft, had played out his rookie contract to which the Los Angeles Rams passed on keeping him despite having 105 tackles. He was seen as a huge plus for the Browns’ defense and inked a three-year deal for $33.75 million. But his numbers went to half in almost every statistical category in his first season in Cleveland. Then he became known for barely running on the field and purposely getting out of a ball carrier’s way instead of making the tackle. He was released with a year left on his deal.

Thornhill is another player who got bank, and then quite trying once he got paid. Now known as “Jog” Thornhill, Berry signed him as Johnson’s replacement. Berry must have learned not to spend as much on a safety as he signed Thorny to a three-year contract, but for $21 million instead. He showed up in Cleveland with a Super Bowl ring. Each season his tackle numbers have decreased and he rarely tries to take players down. He is often seen not hustling during games and has been called out on it numerous times.

DE Curtis Weaver (signed 2022) – Having broken all Mountain West Conference sack records at Boise State with 29.5 career sacks, Weaver was plucked off the waiver wire in what was said to be a crafty move as the Miami Dolphins attempted to sneak him through waivers after a freak foot injury which resulted in an injury settlement. The thought process at the time was the answer to bookend Myles Garrett as duo sackmasters who the Browns got for just $100.

But the young EDGE rusher was regulated to the practice squad or IR for most of his time with Cleveland. He had a second foot injury, was placed on IR, signed to the practice squad twice, released twice, signed a reserve/futures deal twice, and finally was cut. He then had a short stint with the Minnesota Vikings before playing with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL and finally the Ottawa Redbacks in the CFL. He retired from football on May 8, 2024 at the age of 26. As far as the NFL, he played in one game for the Browns and tallied one tackle. Not exactly crafty.

DE Takkarist McKinley (signed 2021) – Another one of Berry’s reclamation projects, Takk was a former first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons who had passed on T.J. Watt in order to grab him. There he had six and seven sacks in his first two seasons, then fell off to one sack in 2020. Atlanta had nothing but problems with McKinley and despite having trade offers earlier, ended up releasing him just to get rid of his immature issues and low effort.

McKinley was immediately signed by the Las Vegas Raiders despite failing a physical where he spent time on IR and then cut without ever seeing the practice field. Berry snatched him up for a song, but only gave him a one-year deal. He finished the season with 18 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble through 11 games, tore an Achilles, ended up on IR and was never re-signed. He has since been signed and terminated by four other NFL clubs.

Milk Bones – Football is a great way to get rid of aggression without going to prison

QBs Joe Flacco (signed 2023), Jacoby Brissett (2022), Case Keenum (2020), and Jameis Winston (2024) – One thing Berry has tried to achieve every season is to have a seasoned veteran on the roster as the backup at a cheap rate. This came into play when Baker Mayfield had aggravated a shoulder injury and Keenum had seven starts.

Next up, the Deshaun Watson Experiment. Watson began his Browns career with an 11-game suspension. This required an NFL-experienced quarterback which Brissett filled. In the following two seasons, Watson became injured and landed on IR. Both Flacco and Winston took over the starting role.

All four substitute signal callers moved on to other teams. In 2024, Keenum was last seen as the backup husband in a Progressive Insurance commercial.

OG Blake Hance (signed 2021) – Hance made this list because of one aspect: He came in during a playoff game after practicing one day with the offense and then played well. During the pandemic, several players were ruled inactive and Hance was signed on January 1, 2021. Two days later, Cleveland played against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a playoff game. In the fourth quarter, OG Michael Dunn suffered a calf injury who had been inserted for starter Joel Bitonio.

RELATED: “A GUY NAMED BLAKE” T-SHIRT SOURCE

“A Guy Named Blake” later became a T-shirt as QB Mayfield explained in an interview after the win over the Steelers, “I introduced myself to a guy named Blake in the locker room before the game.”

RB John Kelly, Jr. (signed 2020) – The Browns have had a love-hate relationship with Kelly. Berry signed him to the practice squad (PS) after claiming him off the Los Angeles Rams’ final training camp cut list.

From there in Cleveland, Kelly was released, signed to the PS, released, signed a reserve/futures contract, released, signed to the PS, promoted to the active roster, released, signed to the PS, signed to a reserve/futures contract, released, signed to the PS, released, signed a reserve/futures contract, released, signed to the PS, released, signed a reserve/futures contract, then released on August 12, 2024.

After spending the 2024 season with the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers, the Browns placed WR Cedric Tillman on IR and signed Kelly to their main roster. And yes, after the season was completed, they released him.

KRs JoJo Natson (2020), Jakeem Grant (2022), and Nyheim Hines (2024) – The Browns haven’t had a dynamite punt or kickoff returner since the days of Josh Cribbs. But it is not like Berry hasn’t given the position his full attention. He has tried.

The problem is that Natson was hurt in Week 3 during his first season in Cleveland and had zero stats the following year. The electric Grant was signed as his replacement and inked a three-year deal but injured his Achilles tendon in preseason and ended up on IR. The following preseason, he had a ruptured patellar tendon and again found IR his home. Hines was signed as his substitution but never saw the field in 2024 due to continued rehab from a jet ski accident.

All three players are (were) exceptional return guys – for other teams, that is.

OG/OT Michael Dunn (signed 2020) – Dunn is one of those guys who is a necessity for a roster. He won’t ever be a Day 1 starter along the offensive line, but when the bodies start to fall and need a fill-in, he is there to bail out the offense. Berry signed Dunn from the XFL and he has come through playing in 43 games at both guard and tackle in his five years with Cleveland.

Dunn has been that insurance policy that every roster needs and has come through repeatedly.

DE Jadeveon Clowney (signed 2021) – Clowney was wandering around the NFL when Berry inked him to man the EDGE rusher side opposite Myles Garrett. He produced immediately with nine sacks his first year in Cleveland, but then dropped to two sacks the following season. Had just 65 total tackles in both seasons before Berry did not re-sign him. Clowney is still now with his sixth NFL club.

OT Geron Christian (signed 2023) – The Browns lost three starting offensive tackles while limping to an 11-win season and a playoff berth in 2023. The line also featured several players to fill in at OT with limited success, but finally settled on the former third-round draft pick after he was cut from the practice squad of the Houston Texans.

Berry signed the journeyman tackle to the Browns practice squad, and a week later he was installed at left tackle. He started nine games where he was graded out by Pro Football Focus at a respectable 72.1 and solidified the offensive line instead of creating another problem.

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From just free agent signings, who would you consider a winner or loser from Andrew Berry’s history with the Browns? Share your thoughts below in the comment section