Former Cleveland Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta has left his position to become the Colorado Rockies’ president of baseball operations.

DePodesta sat down with Rockies beat writers Monday and fielded a host of questions about his past, present and future, including the decision-making process behind the Browns’ controversial trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson and why he took the Rockies role.

Regarding Watson, DePodesta was asked about his role in adding him to the team, and this is what he said, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post.

“Here’s what I would say, and I truly believe this. I believe that most of the decisions, especially the big ones like that, are organizational decisions, right? I’m not a believer in the ‘King Scout’ situation where there is one guy who makes every call. …  The jobs are too complex, the decisions are too hard. They impact too many different things. So I always think these sort of collective decisions, it can be hard to get unanimous (opinions) on those types of things. Everyone who was a part of that? We all own that. We just do, that’s part of the deal.”

The Browns acquired Watson and a 2024 sixth-round draft pick from the Houston Texans in March 2022 for Cleveland’s 2022, 2023 and 2024 first-round draft picks, its 2023 third-round pick and fourth-round choices in 2022 and 2024.

Over he 2022-2024 seasons, Watson played 19 games for the team, which went 9-10 during his starts. He completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 177.1 yards per game while tossing 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Watson is currently recovering from a re-rupture of a torn right Achilles tendon initially suffered on Oct. 20, 2024 against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Browns didn’t fare well during DePodesta’s nine-plus seasons in town (56-99-1 with two playoff appearances), although the struggles go far deeper than one person and stretch back to when the team returned to the league in 1999.

DePodesta’s roots are in baseball. He was in Cleveland’s front office from 1996-1998 and then became the Oakland Athletics’ assistant general manager.

He’s known for his role in Michael Lewis’ book, Moneyball, regarding the 2002 A’s, which overcame significant free agent losses to win 103 games and take the AL West. Moneyball, of course, was the basis for the 2011 film nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.

At the age of 31, DePodesta became the Los Angeles Dodgers’ GM in 2004. He stayed there for two years and then worked for the San Diego Padres and New York Mets before leaving for the NFL.

DePodesta was asked why he left NFL to head back to MLB.

“The reason I left wasn’t because I was done or I was tired of baseball or anything like that. It was, I thought, a unique challenge. …

“I didn’t have immediate plans, obviously, to come back to baseball. I knew it was going to take me a while to get my sea legs in the NFL. It wasn’t going to be like a two-year thing. I was starting from ground zero. I mean, I knew nothing, so I was going to have to dedicate some real years to it.

“But, you know, your first love, you kind of always have that in the back of your mind. And there were certain situations in baseball that I’ve just always been really intrigued by. I thought, boy, if that were ever available, that would be pretty intriguing. And so this was one of those.”

The Rockies are the worst team in baseball. They’ve posted losing records each of the last seven years and just went 43-119, capping a three-year stretch with 101 or more defeats.

DePodesta is open to the challenge of turning this franchise around, however, and noted how special it was to work in the Rocky Mountain region specifically.

“It’s actually a mix of things. One thing is certainly the challenge of the (high) altitude. That’s part of it, but not all of it. Intellectually, that’s certainly a big part of it. But I like the reach of this organization (across the Rocky Mountain region). I mean, to have something that really affects a huge number of people and across a really wide region, is intriguing.”

The 52-year-old DePodesta now embarks on a new adventure in Denver with a big first offseason ahead. Colorado’s first game in the DePodesta era will be March 26, 2026 at the Miami Marlins.