Vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry of the Cleveland Browns is currently trying to navigate what figures to be a highly important offseason for the future direction of the franchise. The Browns are currently coming off of what was a bit of a lost season in 2023-24, as starting quarterback Deshaun Watson was injured for the season with a shoulder injury, leaving Berry and the rest of the Cleveland brass searching for answers on the best route to proceed.
One topic of conversation in NFL circles recently has revolved around the NFL trade deadline, which currently takes place after Week 8 of the season. Berry, for his thoughts, has some suggestions for Roger Goodell and company on how to improve it.
“We want to retroactively correct the fact that the trade deadline never moved when the season expanded to 17 games… if at some point in the future, the regular season expands to 18 games, we want them to be proactive in terms of positioning for the trade deadline. One of the things that we found… if you look at us compared to the other major sports leagues… baseball and basketball have their trade deadline when 65% of the games have been played… currently we’re at 45 percent,” said Berry, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Indeed, it would likely be a benefit to both the Browns and other teams to have more time to assess their squads before having to make trade decisions.