The praise for Andrew Berry and the Cleveland Browns draft class has been coming from every direction, and now one of the most well-connected insiders in the entire sport is adding his voice to the chorus in a big way.
ESPN’s Peter Schrager, who had a front row seat to everything that happened over draft weekend, went on record with a statement that should have Browns fans feeling very good about the direction of this franchise.
“The Cleveland Browns’ general manager, Andrew Berry, really manipulated the draft board really well. They had three guys that they had their eyes on in the top 10. That was Spencer Fano, Francis Mauigoa, and Jordyn Tyson. They take Fano at nine, who they very well likely were going to take at six, and in the process, they got some extra picks. I thought watching the actual conversations in that Browns war room was fascinating. I loved what the Browns did in this draft. I didn’t do draft grades, and I didn’t anoint winners, but I don’t know if any team drafted better than the Cleveland Browns,” Schrager said.
I loved "The Pick is In," the new doc that ESPN ran on Sunday night that took us into the "war rooms" on Draft weekend in Cleveland, Las Vegas, and Dallas.
Hard not to come away being very impressed with Andrew Berry's mastery of the top ten.
The Browns were my big winners. pic.twitter.com/4ePoZIsQVu
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) May 6, 2026
Schrager confirms what many suspected. Fano was likely going to be the pick at six anyway. Berry just found a way to get him at nine while collecting picks 74 and 141 from Kansas City in the process. That is not lucky. That is a general manager who understood the board so well that he could confidently move back, add assets, and still get his guy without breaking a sweat.
Berry and his staff were communicating, processing information, and making decisions in a way that stood out even compared to the other 31 teams going through the same process simultaneously. That kind of organizational clarity and decisiveness under pressure is what separates elite front offices from average ones.
The 2026 NFL Draft belonged to the Cleveland Browns. At this point, there is simply no debate left to have about it.
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