Browns sign coach Kevin Stefanski, GM Andrew Berry to extensions

[Auggie]

The Cleveland Browns have signed head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry to contract extensions, the team announced Wednesday, retaining the decision-making duo that has guided the franchise since the 2020 season.

The lengths of the new deals were not announced.

In Stefanski and Berry, the Browns have found the coach-GM pairing the franchise has longed for since returning to the NFL in 1999. Since 2020, the Browns have the highest winning percentage (.552) for the team over a four-year stretch since 1986 to '89.

During the NFL's league meetings in Orlando, Florida, in March, Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam said they were close to signing Stefanski and Berry to extensions.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40283990/browns-sign-coach-kevin-stefanski-gm-andrew-berry-extensions

The Haslams strike again. I haven't any huge issues with Stefanski, but Berry made a franchise-killing move by signing Watson.

[RockRaven]

1. The original Watson trade and contract was bad enough, but

they dug the whole deeper last year by restructuring his contract to create cap space. He's getting $46M, but counting $64M against the cap, each of the next 3 years -- because of how they tried to absolutely minimize his cap number each of the first two years. The metaphorical bill for signing bonus and restructures always comes due, sooner and harder when the basic contract is unwise to begin with.