On Friday, Cleveland Browns General Manager and EVP of Football Operations Andrew Berry made some changes to his front office and player personnel staff.
Per the official team website, these are the new changes and additions.
New Additions
- Kwesi Adofo-Mensah – VP Football Operations
- Ryan Grigson – Senior Football Advisor
- Charles Walls -National Scout
- Josh Cox – Northwest Area Scout
- Nate Sterken – Lead Data Scientist
- Andrew Jackson – Data Architect / Systems Developer
- Kevin Lewis – Software Developer
Staff Promotions
- Glenn Cook – VP of Player Personnel
- Ken Kovash – VP of Player Personnel Process & Development
- Andrew Healy – VP of Research & Strategy
- Dan Saganey – Director of Player Personnel
- Dave Giuliani – Director Research & Strategy
- Mike Cetta – Director of Scouting Research
- Adam Al-Khayyal – Assistant Director of Pro Personnel
- Tyler Hamblin – Football Operations Coordinator
- Zach Wigmore – Scouting Research Coordinator
- Megan Rock – Player Personnel Coordinator
- Shaun Herock – National Scout
- Colton Chapple – Southeast Area Scout
- Dan Zegers – Midwest Area Scout
- Jimmy Noel – Northeast Area Scout
- Branden Francis – Pro Scout
- Rod Streater – Scouting Assistant
- Joe Dever – Scouting Assistant
- Debra Kruszynski – Executive Assistant Player Personnel/Coaching
- Bradley DeAngelis – Director Football Information Systems
- Zach Zelinsky – Senior Software Developer
Valued Input
One main focus for Berry while putting together his staff has been bringing in smart people.
However, he also wants to make sure each member brings a unique viewpoint to the table.
“I am excited because I think we have brought a lot of smart, talented people and put them in key roles. But also, everyone is not a carbon copy of one another – they bring different perspectives, different experiences, different viewpoints and that is what is going to push us to better decision making. We really are going to consider all the different perspectives and value them. That was a specific aiming point because I think that just helps us to be a better higher quality football operation. I think that is something that we took big strides in accomplishing this month.”
Considering some of the problems that resided with the previous regime, this approach from Berry is a welcomed one in Cleveland.
VP of Football Operations
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah comes from the San Francisco 49ers organization.
He spent the last seven seasons in the Bay Area and served in a number of roles, most recently as Director of Football Research and Development.
In addition to assisting Berry with roster strategy, he will be heavily involved with other day-to-day operations.
Per the Browns website, he seems excited to make an impact in northeast Ohio.
“Having been at the 49ers for a long time and especially these last few years, you see the benefits of working in an aligned culture. What Cleveland has been building for the last few years to this point of a completely aligned culture, I was really excited to come join that. Winning in a place like this would be something incredible where people care. They care about football on Sundays entirely on a level that’s just inspiring. To come to a place and potentially be able to win, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Adofo-Mensah played collegiate basketball at Princeton and also has two separate economics degrees.
By the way, newly hired Browns VP/football ops Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has an A.B. in economics from Princeton and an M.A. in economics from Stanford. In other words, a scheme fit for new Browns front office.
— Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) May 15, 2020
Overview
A few things stand out from this group, starting with Ryan Grigson.
He has spent the last few months in Cleveland after spending two seasons in Seattle as a Senior Personnel Consultant.
Ties between Grigson and Berry go back to Ryan’s days in Indianapolis as the Colts General Manager.
Berry became a Pro Scouting Coordinator for the organization in 2012, the same year Grigson took over as GM.
Grigson experienced success in both Indianapolis and Seattle as his teams made postseason appearances in seven out of nine seasons between the two.
Here’s Berry on the hire per the team’s website.
“We obviously have a long-time relationship. He was one of the first people to make a significant bet on me early in my career. That is not the reason that he is here,” Berry said, “He is here because I think he is very good.”
There is one knock on Grigson, however, that involves a past deal involving a former first round draft pick.
#Browns named former #Colts GM Ryan Grigson as Senior Football Advisor.
The same person they managed to trick into trading a 1st round pick for Trent Richardson a few years ago. https://t.co/nQeJmzNJDw
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 29, 2020
Glenn Cook is another guy that Berry is extremely fond of in terms of his evaluation skills.
He was hired as the team’s Assistant Director of Scouting back in 2016 and also spent time with the Colts back in 2011.
Glenn Cook appeared to take on a bigger role for the Browns this offseason as Andrew Berry's right hand man. As such, his promotion makes a lot of sense.
— Brent Sobleski (@brentsobleski) May 28, 2020
Andrew Healy is another guy who has been with the team since 2016 and was previously a collegiate economics professor.
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