ORLANDO, Fla. — General manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski have put together the most successful four-year run since the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999. They're "close" to being rewarded for that success.
After months of speculation , owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam told a small group of beat writers Monday at the NFL owners meetings at The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott Grande Lakes that they were nearing extensions for both their general manager and head coach.
"I'll just say this," Jimmy Haslam said Monday. "We're in the process of working through things so that Kevin and Andrew would be with us for an extended period of time."
The pair will enter their fifth season together. It's the first time the Browns have had the same pairing in the general manager and head coach roles for that length of time since Peter Hadhazy was the general manager and Sam Rutigliano was the head coach from 1978-84.
Berry is now the longest-tenured Browns general manager of the expansion era, and longest since Ernie Accrorsi held the position from 1985-91. Stefanski will be the first head coach to get a fifth season with the team since Bill Belichick from 1991-95.
"The NFL is a highly pressured situation," Jimmy Haslam said. "And the two of them, I can't imagine, and there may be other coaches and GMs that get along better than them, but I can't imagine two people in that situation that work together better than the two of them do. And I say this all the time, and (Browns Chief Strategy Officer) Paul (DePodesta), I mean the three of them work together extremely well. And so that makes our job much easier."
Stefanski, who had spent the previous 19 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings , was the first one hired, signing a five-year contract with the team on Jan. 13, 2020. Berry, who had spent the 2019 season with the Philadelphia Eagles after three seasons in Cleveland , signed his original deal on Jan. 27, 2020.
The Browns have gone, regular season and playoffs combined, 38-32 since the two were hired. That includes this past season's 11-6 regular season and AFC wild card loss to the Houston Texans , a season for which Stefanski was honored with his second NFL Coach of the Year award from the Associated Press.
Two of the Browns' three playoff appearances since returning to the league in 1999 have come under their watch. They've also produced two of the team's four winning seasons in that span.
However, if there's something that will define both of their tenures, it's the deal Berry executed on March 18, 2022. That's when the Browns sent first-round picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024, a 2022 third-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Texans to acquire quarterback Deshaun Watson and a 2024 sixth-round pick.
Watson arrived in Cleveland dealing with a significant number of allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct during massage appointments — a number that had grown to more than two dozen — that followed him from Houston. That led to a negotiated 11-game suspension to open the 2022 season.
Since returning from that suspension, Watson has started just 12 games over two seasons for the Browns. He finished the final six games of the 2022 season, then was limited this past season to six starts by a pair of shoulder injuring, including a season-ending broken glenoid.
This past season also showcased the best, or close to that, of both Berry and Stefanski. Watson's shoulder injuries were just the tip of the injury iceberg for the Browns, who ultimately lost, at various points, their star running back ( Nick Chubb ), starting right tackles ( Jack Conklin , Dawand Jones ), starting left tackle ( Jedrick Wills Jr.), key defensive tackle ( Maurice Hurst II), starting linebacker ( Anthony Walker Jr. ) and starting safeties ( Grant Delpit , Rodney McLeod ) to season-ending injuries.
However, Berry expertly brought in replacements to fill the void. Stefanski, meanwhile, developed buy-in within the locker room to his messages of "next man up" and "just go 1-0 today."
"It's reflected in our entire organization," Dee Haslam said. "I mean, you can see it among the coaching staff and it's nobody ever really overreacts. It's calm. Everybody works through the problem together. And we've had our challenges."
The encapsulation of that was quarterback Joe Flacco , who was originally signed to the practice squad on Nov. 20. Flacco would eventually become the Browns' fourth starting quarterback in Week 13 and go 4-1 in the regular season with a franchise-record four consecutive 300-yard passing games.
Flacco was eventually voted as the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year. He and Stefanski were two of four Browns players or coaches, along with Myles Garrett (Defensive Player of the Year) and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz (Assistant Coach of the Year), to win major NFL awards from the AP this past season.
Now, though, both face the challenge of building upon success. It's something the Browns struggled with in 2021, when they followed up 2020's 11-5 regular-season record and AFC divisional round appearance with a disappointing 8-9 season.
That season centered around the questions about quarterback Baker Mayfield , who had sustained a non-throwing shoulder injury in Week 2. On top of that was the controversy involving receiver Odell Beckham Jr. , who was released by Cleveland on Nov. 8, 2021 .
This year, the questions again surround the quarterback position, specifically how Watson recovers from his shoulder injury. The importance of that can be told by the moves Stefanski has made to his offensive coaching staff this offseason, where he replaced his offensive coordinator (Alex Van Pelt to Ken Dorsey), running backs coach (Stump Mitchell to Duce Staley) and tight ends coach (T.C. McCartney to Tommy Rees), while he had to replace offensive line coach Bill Callahan with Andy Dickerson after Callahan left to join his son Brian's staff with the Tennessee Titans .
Berry, meanwhile, faces the continual challenge of supplementing the roster with more talent to help Watson. He does so also knowing the question about Chubb's future hangs over as well, both in his recovery timeline and in the question about his contract status.
Berry acquired wide receiver Jerry Jeudy by trade from the Denver Broncos to open the player-acquisition period in mid-March. He followed that up by signing outside free agents such as quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Tyler Huntley , along with linebackers Jordan Hicks and Devin Bush Jr . and running backs Nyheim Hines and D'Onta Freeman.
The general manager also made a points to re-sign a large number of the Browns' own free agents. That included defensive end Za'Darius Smith, defensive tackles Maurice Hurst Jr. and Shelby Harris , safety Rodney McLeod and offensive guard Michael Dunn.
Berry also locked up safety Grant Delpit to a three-year extension, the only member of his original 2020 draft class signed past this season.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns owners say extensions close for Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski
