Skeptics aside, Andrew Berry confident Browns can find quarterback in 2025 draft

Browns general manager Andrew Berry and many of his peers are in Mobile, Alabama, this week searching for a quarterback in the 2025 draft good enough to carry their team to the playoffs. To hear analysts grading this draft, Berry might have better luck finding a snowman in Mobile, where the temperature at 5 p.m.

, Jan 29, was 67 degrees. “I don’t know if anyone in this class would be in the top six of the guys last year,” Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy told reporters at the Senor Bowl on Jan. 25.



“I don’t know if any of these guys are Bo Nix or (Michael) Penix or J.J. McCarthy.

” Nagy left out the first three players selected in the first round last year. All were quarterbacks. The Bears took Caleb Williams, the Commanders picked Jayden Daniels and the Patriots drafted Drake Maye third overall.

The Falcons took Penix eighth, the Lions took McCarthy 10th and the Broncos took Nix with the 12th pick. The only one in the group that didn’t start was McCarthy, who missed all of 2024 with a knee injury. The Browns have the second pick in the first round of the draft on April 24.

They also have the first pick in the second round (33) plus picks 67 and 93 in the third round among their 11 overall picks Cam Ward of Miami and Shedeur Sanders of Colorado are rated the top two quarterbacks in the draft. One or both will be available to Berry, but that doesn’t mean he will use the second overall pick on a quarterback. “I think there are talented passers in this draft, and I’d have a hard time believing that there’s not at least one guy who will be a quality starter, if not more,” Berry told Cleveland.

com at the Senior Bowl. “I think a big part of it with these guys is it really is surrounding them with the right environment that allows us to maximize them. But, yeah, I think there are talented passers in this class.

” Berry strongly hinted he is not locked into using the second pick on a quarterback. Jalen Milroe (Alabama), Dillon Gabriel (Oregon), Jaxson Dart (Ole Miss), Kyle McCord (Syracuse) and Quinn Evers (Texas) are quarterbacks likely to be snatched up late in the first round or early in the second. “It’s the most important position, so you’re gonna do a whole bunch of work on it every year, regardless of where your roster is,” Berry told the Browns website .

“But you also don’t want to force it if the right guy isn’t there and feel compelled to reach at that spot. “I don’t think there are any hard truths about what you have to do at the top of the draft. I think the big thing is you have to do everything in your power to help you make the right decision.

” Berry has been in charge of the Browns’ draft since 2020. The only quarterback he drafted in that time was Dorian Thompson-Robinson. DTR was a fifth-round choice in 2023.

The Giants have the third pick. They need a new quarterback as desperately as the Browns do. The Browns could swap spots with the Giants, pick up extra picks in the trade, and still get the player they want if that player isn’t Ward or Sanders.

The Raiders, picking sixth, and the Jets, picking seventh also need a quarterback. Berry during his season wrap-up news conference in Berea on Jan. 6 made it very clear he has no plans to trade defensive end Myles Garrett.

“My anticipation, expectation is that he’ll have a direct ticket from Cleveland to Canton at the end of his years,” Berry said. “I expect him to be here and retire as a Brown, quite frankly.” Berry echoed those remarks at the Senior Bowl, telling reporters he wouldn’t even take two first-round picks for Garrett.

In fact, he talked about an eventual contract extension for the Browns’ all-time sack leader (102.5). “I don’t want to go into contract discussions.

” Berry said. “I wouldn’t do that publicly. But I think you can assume that we do anticipate at some point doing a third contract with Myles.

We want him to retire here.” Garrett, the first overall pick of the 2017 draft, is 29 years old. He is under contract for 2025 and 2026.

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