BEREA,Ohio — Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry addressed several questions about players on the current roster in his annual NFL pre-draft session with the media, including the team’s starting quarterback.

Berry was asked about his optimism as to whether Deshaun Watson would be ready for the start of the regular season.

“We feel really good about it,” Berry said. “I’m not going to make any predictions just because you just never know. But that’s certainly our expectation.”

Berry did say that Watson has been throwing up to 40 yards in his throwing sessions, which would be a pretty good indicator that he’s progressing well.

“We have a regular cadence, regular checkpoints,” Berry said. ” This week Deshaun was throwing up to 40 yards. He’s in a pretty good spot. Again, I don’t want to put, what is it, the cart in front of the horse. But he’s progressing as appropriate.

“We’re really, really pleased with the work that he’s put in and really pleased with how the shoulder’s responding,” he said. “But we’re still in the middle of a rehab process, so we know that it can take different left and right turns, but we’re pretty optimistic in terms of what we’ve seen so far.”

When Berry talked about the acquisition of Watson in his season-finale press conference, he mentioned that the Browns looked at the trade as a long-term acquisition and used a “ten-year” time-frame.

Berry was asked about that on Thursday.

“I’m talking about as, I think the one thing that’s pretty unique about the quarterback position in our sport is when you find a good one, they’re typically with your franchise for a long period of time,” he said. “So when I say 10 years, maybe I didn’t mean it quite as literally, as you’re taking it, but for a very long period of time because that player at that position can really anchor your franchise and anchor your organization on the field.

“So as we think about it, it’s less about a yearly fluctuation, but very much with a long-term focus because look quarterbacks, I mean they’re not all Tom Brady playing until their 45, but quarterbacks in this league, they play to their mid- and late-thirties and that’s an incredibly valuable player to have.”

#Browns Andrew Berry was asked about his comments in the past about looking at the Deshaun Watson trade as a 10 year window. pic.twitter.com/QrjloKtIhW

— Fred Greetham (@FredGreetham9) April 18, 2024

Nick Chubb’s Status, Contract

Berry was also asked about running back Nick Chubb and if the contract structure had any impact on if he might be able to return earlier than expected this season.

“So with Nick in his rehab, I think you guys have heard me say he’s really attacked it very aggressively really since he’s been able to in the fall, he’s going at a good pace,” he said. “It’s still early. He actually started running on land this past week. That’s not to say that he’s through the woods or anything, but he’s doing everything in his power.

“He’s progressing appropriately, but certainly the next few weeks, next few months will be big as we continue to increase the load that he’s able to put on his knee,” he said. “And then how much he’s ultimately able to do during his training.”

He was also asked if the fact that it has been reported that he has the opportunity to earn the money that he was scheduled to make reflect any of the team’s expectations.

“I won’t comment in detail on the contract other than to say that I think that whenever you go through a situation like that, I think people think it’s easy for a club an agent to be adversarial,” he said. “And with Nick’s situation, I really applaud Nick and then his reps, Todd France and and AJ Stevens for being really collaborative partners and finding a solution that worked for everybody. I think everybody in this room is happy that Nick is back as a Cleveland Brown and we’re very optimistic that he’s going to crush the rehab.”

On Greg Newsome Trade Rumors

There has been rumors leading up to the draft about the Browns possibly trading cornerback Greg Newsome. Berry addressed the question on Thursday.

“Nothing new on that,” Berry said. “I want as many good corners as possible. We have, going back to my point about the league playing in 11 personnel, your base offense and defense is really more three receivers in three corners in this day and age. So that’s really how we think about it. Even though we are technically a 4-3 (defense).

“How many snaps will you realistically see us play in base?” he said. “Not very many over the course of the season, so is a premium position. We have three guys who can play press man coverage at a very, very, very high level. That’s not a skillset that I’m looking to give away.”

About Three Starting-Caliber Offensive Tackles

Similar to the question about the cornerback group, Berry was asked about the offensive tackle position with Jack Conklin, Jedrick Wills and Dawand Jones, all players who started in 2023 before finishing the season on injured reserve. Wills is entering the final year under the fifth-year option.

Berry was asked could you have three offensive tackles that are considered of starting-caliber on the team.

“I do. I do,” he said. “And we’ve probably seen that in particular, two out of the four years that we’ve been here, where I think maybe one or two teams in the league end up having their starting five play the whole season on a given year. And that’s one of the positions where once you get into the season, it’s hard to acquire them. The big guys, they’re hard to acquire once you get into camp. So tackle’s a premium position. We have good ones. Again, in no hurry to give anyone away.”

Wide Receivers a Plenty

Berry talked about the deep wide receiver class in the upcoming NFL Draft and Berry said that he thinks the trend will continue with more and more top-end receivers being available.

“I actually do think that if you think about maybe the last decade versus 10 years into the future, I do think that you’ll see more volume and quality at that position,” he said. “I think it has, it’s a direct effect of just really how the game is played really at the lower levels, right? The proliferation of seven on seven football and youth football now in high school, kids are throwing the ball 30 times a game.

#Browns Andrew Berry on the depth at wide receiver in the draft and the trend to having more passing in the game going forward. pic.twitter.com/WT5oOgddJX

— Fred Greetham (@FredGreetham9) April 18, 2024

“You look at the advancement of spread football in college and then even if you think in our game, I think call it anywhere upwards from 65 to 70% of the game is played in 11 personnel, one back, one tight end, three receivers,” he said. “And so I think a lot of the top athletes at the lower levels are going to that position and it makes sense because we’re in a passing lead and we’re in a passing sport. And so I think that trend will probably hold.”

The Browns could use one of their top picks on a wide receiver in the upcoming NFL Draft.