{"id":605797,"date":"2026-04-25T15:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T15:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/605797\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T15:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T15:17:09","slug":"andrew-berry-browns-restoring-their-roster-one-sensible-draft-pick-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/605797\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Berry, Browns restoring their roster one sensible draft pick at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Browns entered the NFL Draft<\/a> with obvious needs at offensive tackle and wide receiver.<\/p>\n

Two days and five picks into general manager Andrew Berry\u2019s seventh draft in charge, it\u2019s clear that new coach Todd Monken watched the Browns\u2019 2025 offense and has a strong level of input in how Cleveland has attacked its selections.<\/p>\n

What happened in the last two seasons wasn\u2019t good enough. What the Browns had at key offensive positions wasn\u2019t good enough. What happens at quarterback still is anyone\u2019s guess, but the Browns have doubled up on offensive tackles and wide receivers.<\/p>\n

After taking tackle Spencer Fano and wide receiver KC Concepcion<\/a> in Thursday\u2019s first round, the Browns started the second round by selecting wide receiver Denzel Boston and executing three trades \u2014 two down the board and one up \u2014 before selecting safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren and tackle Austin Barber.<\/p>\n

Both in draft-board management and matching talent to need, Berry and the Browns have done well. The March priority was clearly the remake of the offensive line, and the Fano pick at No. 9 backed that up.<\/p>\n

Concepcion, the speed-first receiver, came at No. 24. At No. 39, the Browns selected the true outside target in Boston as part of their shift toward badly needed pass-catching upgrades. McNeil-Warren was on the team\u2019s short list at No. 39, so Berry basically said trading back into the second round at No. 58 was an easy call.<\/p>\n

Then, after another trade got the Browns fourth-round picks in 2026 and 2027, Berry traded the 2026 fourth-rounder as part of getting back to No. 86 to select Barber, who can learn both tackle spots and potentially play inside at guard if needed.<\/p>\n

Assuming health, development and proper evaluation, the Browns are restoring the depth chart one sensible pick at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where we hoped we would head,\u201d Monken said of the team\u2019s roadmap through three rounds.<\/p>\n

Though Monken was hesitant to outright say he pushed the front office to tackle the most obvious needs, he said he believes the Browns are on their way to matching each pick with an actual development plan and, eventually, to maximizing what\u2019s on hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, whether we take them in the first round, second round, third round \u2014 whatever their (draft) grades are now \u2014 it\u2019s up to us as a coaching staff to develop them,\u201d Monken said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why we\u2019re hired. That\u2019s why coaches are hired: to develop the players that show up in your locker room. And you\u2019re always trying to maximize a player\u2019s measurable skill set. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to fight like hell to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Browns beefed up the roster while temporarily burying the lede: the quarterback situation remains somewhere between uncertain and fully pointed toward next year\u2019s draft. The just-completed three-day bonus minicamp for Monken, being a new hire, was only the start of what\u2019s looking like a competition between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders<\/a>, who started the final seven games of 2025.<\/p>\n

That the Browns didn\u2019t draft a quarterback in the first three rounds can be taken as good news for Sanders\u2019 chances of getting a shot to prove himself, though first he\u2019ll have to win the job. Watson is back for the final year of his disastrous contract after missing all of 2025 with a twice-torn right Achilles tendon and is likely not in the team\u2019s long-term plans, but he\u2019ll get a chance to become the starter.<\/p>\n

The Browns teaming Concepcion and Boston with dynamic second-year tight end Harold Fannin Jr. is good news for whoever wins the quarterback job. The line will have at least three veterans plus Fano, who will re-learn left tackle after playing his final two college seasons on the right side. Monken gets to build his scheme around the new guys and improved depth, with the overall thinking being that the Browns will go intentionally young and leave their quarterback options open.<\/p>\n

Though Berry\u2019s 2025 draft class looks strong<\/a> and could eventually be viewed as outstanding, it included no receivers or offensive linemen. Browns wide receivers as a group had four touchdown receptions last season, so the Concepcion-Boston double-up really should surprise no one. Injuries and poor roster construction forced the Browns to start seven different players at left tackle over the last three seasons. The entire core of what was a good offensive line just a few years ago is now gone.<\/p>\n

Berry added three veteran offensive linemen, brought back Teven Jenkins and now has added two rookies. The Browns are probably still looking for a fullback, a tight end and maybe another guard, but they\u2019ve added speed to the pass-catching group. Fannin and running back Quinshon Judkins are viewed as core pieces, too.<\/p>\n

McNeil-Warren might be a pick for the future, but the Browns think he\u2019s versatile and rangy enough to make a good defense better immediately. Berry, though, has long known he\u2019d have to focus on the offensive side this year. Though Berry said Jerry Jeudy is still \u201cthe bellcow\u201d of the receiver room, the remake of that group is now officially underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with receiver rooms, you can have maybe a ball-dominant player or you can essentially build a basketball team with different skill sets,\u201d Berry said. \u201cWe prefer the second approach. Now, don\u2019t get me wrong: I\u2019ll take Calvin Johnson if he\u2019s out there, but we feel like we have a nice, well-rounded room with speed, (run after catch), contested catch ability and separation. So we\u2019re really pleased with the youth and talent in that group.\u201d<\/p>\n

To this point, Berry seems to have positioned Monken and the offense to show improvement in 2026. What the actual future is at quarterback and for exact roles among the playmakers remains unknown, but the Browns feel they\u2019re on their way to building something.<\/p>\n

And with another quarterback competition, the folks in charge feel there are fewer questions elsewhere than in previous years. That feels like progress, which should be the minimum ask for Monken\u2019s first season.<\/p>\n

If the Browns can add another strong draft class and get a true quarterback evaluation in the season ahead, things will be much clearer at this time next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft.\u00a0 The Cleveland Browns entered the NFL Draft with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1799,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-605797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cleveland-browns","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}