Browns: 3 potential scapegoats if things go wrong in Cleveland

Andrew Berry assembled most of this talent, but that may not be good enough

No, this does not seem fair, but what is with bad ownership, honestly? Browns general manager Andrew Berry will find another front office executive job somewhere good the second Cleveland inevitably fires him for not winning enough games. The Browns have a top-eight roster in the league. Anything short of a playoff berth could result in the ax coming down from ownership.

Even if Berry’s hands were somewhat tied in Cleveland’s second surge to trade for Deshaun Watson, he still has more cap space than anyone to work with to make his team better on the fly this fall. The nearly $49 million in available space is due in large part to Watson accounting for next to nothing on the Browns’ books. Simply put, Berry has a window to be a big spender in 2022.

Though the expectations for this team are out of whack, it can be a playoff team if Watson starts close to half of its games. Otherwise, someone like Jacoby Brissett, or his former New England Patriots teammate Jimmy Garoppolo, could be good enough to help this team hover around .500 like it did when Mayfield was under center. This is the roster Berry built for the Browns after all.

Fair or not, Haslam could kick Berry to the curb if his well-constructed roster underwhelms again.