Andrew Berry believes Cleveland Browns' flurry to start free agency about being flexible

PHOENIX — It's been a frantic couple of weeks for Browns general manager Andrew Berry.

Berry has been involved with more than 16 deals in exactly two weeks. While there were a handful of moves he made in that time span that involved bringing back players who were part of the Browns roster a year ago, a large percentage of them involved new additions.

Berry gave himself a moment to catch his breath as the NFL's annual meetings got underway Sunday at the Arizona Biltmore resort. Yet, even that came hours after word of yet another move came out, the impending signing of reserve offensive lineman Wes Martin.

As he sat back and reflected for a moment on the previous two weeks, Berry found himself neither surprised nor nonplussed by the amount of activity that has surrounded the organization.

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"Honestly, I remember when we talked at the combine (on Feb. 28), I talked about mapping resources to opportunities," Berry told a handful of Northeast Ohio reporters Sunday evening. "You never really can predict what it's going to look like going into the start of the league year. So we always try and just remain flexible.

"We're obviously excited about all the guys that we did add, but I don't know that I had any expectations in terms of volume, so to speak. But we do have to get to 90, and it takes adding a lot of guys to get to that point. But every year is kind of unpredictable from that perspective."

Berry even peeled back the curtain a bit on how the Browns' offseason moves have unfolded. From the moment the team could start agreeing to deal during the two-day negotiation window, it appeared as though the plan was to address an inconsistent defense.

The Browns signed multiple defensive linemen (Dalvin Tomlinson, Maurice Hurst Jr., Trysten Hill), an edge rusher (Ogbonnia Okoronkwo) and a safety (Juan Thornhill) within the first 72 hours or so of the new league year beginning on March 15. Berry, though, acknowledged a certain randomness to how it all played out, even though it appeared to be part of some grand design.

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"No, it just happened that way, and I think also part of it is you are exploring a lot of things," Berry said. "Once the league year opens or really once the negotiating window opens, you're exploring a lot of things concurrently, but when it occurs it can occur for a variety of factors. Oftentimes trades take longer than free agent signings. Are you going top of the market? What is the players' decision making process? So there's a lot of factors that go into when something comes to fruition.

"I know on the outside it looks like, well just linearly like, OK, this is what they did day one, day two and that's how it worked out this year. But that's not necessarily how, let's say, it felt internally."

Random results don't mean disappointing results. However the Browns may have gotten from point to point during the first two weeks doesn't diminish what they got accomplished.

One example of that is the signing of Thornhill, the two-time Super Bowl champion safety formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs. Yes, the Browns needed a true free safety after John Johnson III was released.

That safety, though, wasn't necessarily on grocery list the first week of free agency.

"When we went into the start of the league year, we weren't necessarily anticipating doing a, call it a sizable safety deal, necessarily," Berry said. "That wasn't the plan, that was actually a pivot. What we liked about Juan, we thought he was a player who very rarely do true free safeties get to the market, and if they do, they get paid very, very handsomely.

"… Candidly, we thought that it would get to the point given our other priorities that we would need to find a more cost effective alternative. Ultimately, what happened early in free agency, some of the signings we made gave us a little more flexibility with Juan and Juan wanted to be here."

The focus on defense, at least in the results, has shifted over the last week to more offensive help. The Browns have signed a backup quarterback in bringing back Josh Dobbs, closed in on a deal with Martin pending a physical, signed one of Deshaun Watson's former Houston tight ends in Jordan Akins, while both trading for Elijah Moore and signing Marquise Goodwin to bolster the receiving corps.

That flurry of moves designed to aid Watson, much like the moves to plug defensive holes, occurred thanks to timing that was purely coincidental.

"You can never predict the sequencing," Berry said. "You go into every year with perhaps a number of roster goals, but you really do have to be flexible in terms of the avenue for accomplishing those goals and priorities. So whether that ends up being a trade, a free agent signing, draft pick or some other means, you just really never know."

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Andrew Berry credits Browns' start free agency to being flexible