Orange and Brown Talk podcast<\/a> episode, where host Dan Labbe and Browns beat reporter Ashley Bastock issue a clear-eyed warning heading into combine week: Berry\u2019s real test isn\u2019t replicating last year\u2019s success \u2014 it\u2019s doing it at the positions where he\u2019s historically fallen flat.<\/p>\n\u201cBut now the challenge this year is not just following that up, but following that up at positions where he\u2019s kind of struggled to draft guys, O-line and wide receiver,\u201d Labbe said on the podcast. \u201cI just think that\u2019s what makes this draft so interesting. He had a really great draft last year, but this league\u2019s relentless. We\u2019re onto this year now, and now you\u2019ve got to nail some positions where we\u2019ve seen you miss multiple times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Multiple times. That\u2019s not a casual observation. That\u2019s a documented pattern \u2014 and Bastock put the full weight of it on display with one pointed challenge to her co-host.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho would you consider to be the best wide receiver that Andrew Berry has drafted here? Drafted, not traded for. So we\u2019re taking out Amari Cooper. Best he\u2019s drafted.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer, after a long pause? Donovan Peoples-Jones. A sixth-round pick. A player Cleveland ultimately couldn\u2019t even bring themselves to pay for a second contract. That\u2019s the ceiling of Berry\u2019s wide receiver drafting \u2014 not a first-round playmaker, not a consistent starter, but a Day 3 dart throw who made some memorable plays before moving on in free agency.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Cedric Tillman) just hasn\u2019t played enough. I was thinking Donovan, you got him in the sixth round and got a couple of good years out of him,\u201d Bastock said. \u201cI genuinely think that speaks to the lack of significant resources they\u2019ve been able to add there. Anthony Schwartz is another guy. David Bell. They have really, really, really struggled with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony Schwartz. David Bell. Draft picks who never developed into starter-level NFL receivers. It\u2019s a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 at the position that doesn\u2019t inspire confidence \u2014 and it lands at exactly the wrong moment, when Cleveland desperately needs explosive playmakers to build around a new offensive identity under Todd Monken.<\/p>\n
The offensive line story rhymes. Jedrick Wills was a Top-10 pick who never became the bookend left tackle the organization hoped for. Nick Harris was drafted, released, and cycled back through. Dawand Jones is now more question mark than anchor. The wins at this position group have come largely through free agency, not the draft.<\/p>\n
There are reasons for cautious optimism. Monken\u2019s voice in evaluating receiver fits adds a new dimension to the process. And George Warhop \u2014 who was instrumental in building Joe Thomas into one of the greatest offensive linemen in NFL history \u2014 now coaches Cleveland\u2019s offensive line, and his input on tackle prospects is expected to carry serious weight.<\/p>\n
But optimism isn\u2019t the same as a track record. Berry walks into this draft carrying the weight of every misfire at these two positions. And if the combine week conversation between Labbe and Bastock is any indication, the expectations are high \u2014 and the margin for error is shrinking fast.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t miss the full breakdown. Listen to the latest Orange and Brown Talk episode now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the latest podcast:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Football Insider newsletter free trial: Take a minute and sign up for a free trial<\/a> of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com’s Browns reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Andrew Berry just delivered one of the better draft classes the Browns have produced in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,103764,94864,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-762322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-cleveland-browns-head-coach-todd-monken","12":"tag-cleveland-browns-2025-2026","13":"tag-clevelandbrowns","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116097236668067119","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}