Vision for the quarterback room
As the roster currently stands, the Browns have one available quarterback in Kenny Pickett – who they acquired in a trade with the Eagles at the start of the new league year on March 12. While QB Deshaun Watson continues to rehab from his re-injured Achilles tendon, he will miss time during the 2025 season. That timeline is still unclear, but Berry reiterated Watson will miss “a significant portion of the season.”
In the meantime, they are rebuilding their quarterback room – which started with the trade for Pickett. Berry said the Browns sought out the trade with the Eagles for Pickett. He was a player they were interested in the 2024 offseason when the Steelers traded him to Philadelphia. When the opportunity surfaced again this offseason, Berry took the chance. Cleveland sent QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a 2025 fifth round pick to the Eagles in exchange for Pickett.
Now a member of the Browns, Pickett will have the chance to compete for the starting quarterback job.
“With Kenny, a young player, we spent a good amount of time with him during the pre-draft process when he came out,” Berry said. “Feel like he’s a good decision maker. He does a really good job of protecting the ball. He’s very mobile and we think that his relative strengths are something that fit well with the offense that we’re putting into place for this upcoming year. We do think that there’s a pretty credible path for him to continue to improve and take a step forward and I think you’ve seen that with players that they get into maybe new or sometimes maybe better environments for their particular path and their career.”
Berry said they will continue to build out the quarterback room over the course of the offseason. They still have options to do so through adding a veteran quarterback, drafting a young quarterback or both.
“I think that we’re probably just a bit more narrow in our focus in terms of the type of veteran that we think would fit where we are from a roster perspective and where we want that quarterback room to be,” Berry said. “I think something could happen before the draft. I wouldn’t rule it out that it could happen after the draft. I think that’s fair as well, but I wouldn’t necessarily pin it down to any one timeframe.”
As the organization works to fulfill the vision for the quarterback room, Berry said they would more likely skew younger in their additions to the roster to match their long-term goals for the position.
Yet, if the Browns bring in a young quarterback in the draft, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will start from the beginning. Berry believes when the rookie will play in his rookie season is all dependent on the individual player and the situation of the team.
“I think that every rookie, they kind of acclimate differently,” Berry said. “I wish there was a formula or an easy solution to, these are the type of guys that hit the ground running, these are the guys that stub their toe and then they figured it out year two. But unfortunately, that’s not the case. Look, I’d love for a rookie quarterback to come in and make a seamless transition. But we also have to make sure that the room is situated where if that individual doesn’t, they’re not necessarily forced into action.”
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
