Browns GM Andrew Berry just silenced his loudest critics

Andrew Berry is arguably the best general manager the Cleveland Browns have had since their return in 1999. While they've had some success under others, he's had them competitive for three years in a row and they're 26-24 with him and head coach Kevin Stefanski working together.

He's also been very aggressive now that he feels his team is close. Cleveland has made some shrewd moves which include trading for Deshaun Watson, Za'Darius Smith, and Elijah Moore. He also signed Dalvin Tomlinson and Juan Thornhill to shore up the defense. In addition to the roster, he brought in two top coordinators Jim Schwartz and Bubba Ventrone.

Despite all the good he's done, some people refuse to be happy. And those contrarians have been hyper-focused on one thing — Berry keeping his draft picks.

The (overly harsh) criticism claims that Berry will keep lesser players on the roster while cutting superior players due to draft status. There aren't a lot of examples, but the two most people pointed to are Anthony Schwartz and Cade York.

On Monday, Berry silenced even those doubters when he moved on from both players.

Schwartz was released with an injury designation, but many saw that coming as soon as they added Elijah Moore, Cedric Tillman, and Marquise Goodwin this offseason. The decision to cut York felt less guaranteed, but they acquired Dustin Hopkins in a trade with the Chargers and let York go. There are reports they would like York back on the practice squad but he might get claimed by another franchise.

No matter what happens, the talk of Berry hanging onto his picks too long needs to end. Especially when you throw in the fact that he also cut Perrion Winfrey this offseason due to legal troubles.

Andrew Berry criticism was never even valid

While it's true his moves this year should silence the noise, the criticism never should have taken place. This idea that Berry favored his picks was nonsense.

First, there really were no examples of anyone being released that was a lock to make the team. Sure, Schwartz struggled in years one and two but the Browns released players such as Mike Harley, Jr. to keep Schwartz — and Harley was retained on the practice squad so 31 other teams felt he wasn't a fit on their depth charts either.

With York, it wasn't as if there were many options last year. Maybe they could have gone for Cameron Dicker early in the year but no team is giving up on a fourth-round kicker in year one — especially after the kick he made against the Panthers.

Lastly, every single general manager in the NFL gives preference to draft picks. This is not a Cleveland Browns thing or an Andrew Berry thing. This is an NFL thing.

Oftentimes, there's not a lot that separates the players on the bottom of the roster. When that happens, traits tend to win out. And players such as Schwartz who has track star speed often get drafted since they have some type of elite trait.

The truth is, Berry was giving draft picks time to develop — and he's only entering year four so none of them had a whole lot of time to develop. Now that he's seen a big enough sample size, and has a deeper roster, he's willing to make the cuts that he was accused of avoiding.

So now that this criticism is dead, we eagerly await the next.

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