Browns bring back Andrew Berry from Philly by hiring him as GM

32-year-old returns to Cleveland — this time with control of roster.

Time will tell whether Andrew Berry can successfully navigate the twists and turns he’ll encounter as general manager of the Browns.

But this much is certain: He already knows his way around team headquarters in Berea.

The Browns brought Berry back Monday by hiring him as their new GM and executive vice president of football operations, a person familiar with the move confirmed.

Berry received a five-year contract, the person said, and the Browns were expected to announce the hire Monday afternoon.

He served as a VP of player personnel with them from 2016-18 but can expect a better parking space during his second tour in Cleveland because he now has control of the 53-man roster.

Berry, 32, became a favorite of owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam when he worked for the Browns the first time, and they didn’t want him to leave last year when he accepted a promotion by becoming the Philadelphia Eagles’ VP of football operations.

Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta and Berry backed Kevin Stefanski’s head coaching bid last year, when Freddie Kitchens secured the job instead.

So the Browns are hopeful an Ivy League trio of Harvard University graduates DePodesta and Berry and University of Pennsylvania graduate Stefanski, hired Jan. 12 as Kitchens’ successor, will give them the alignment that has eluded a franchise plagued by power struggles and infighting since the Haslams purchased it in 2012.

The belief is DePodesta, Berry and Stefanski will be united by their strong commitment to analytics.

The Browns interviewed two other candidates for the GM job — Minnesota Vikings assistant general manager George Paton and New England Patriots director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort.

Berry was widely considered the favorite heading into the search, but Paton emerged as the apparent front runner after a receiving a second interviewJan. 22. Paton worked with Stefanski for 13 seasons in Minnesota, yet the Browns fell short of inspiring Paton to leave the Vikings for a

reunion. Paton withdrew from consideration Jan. 24, prompting all eyes to immediately turn toward Berry.

He will succeed John Dorsey, who, after two years on the job, became the fifth head of football to be fired or ousted on the Haslams’ watch. Dorsey and the owners mutually agreed Dec. 31 to part ways after he declined to accept a diminished role on the heels of the Browns going 6-10 in Kitchens’ lone season as a head coach.

Former Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown hired Berry in January 2016 to lead the player personnel department in an analytics-driven front office.

But after Brown was fired on Dec. 7, 2017, with the Browns on their way to going 1-31 under coach Hue Jackson in two seasons, Dorsey took control of player personnel the same day.

A month later, Dorsey added his top lieutenants: Eliot Wolf, assistant GM, and Alonzo Highsmith, who received the same VP of player personnel title as Berry. Despite the shake-up, Berry stuck around for a year before departing for Philadelphia in February 2019 coming off a 7-8-1 Browns season.

Berry isn’t returning to the Browns with much fanfare because his initial tenure is remembered for the historically poor stretch of one win in 32 games.

At the time, DePodesta oversaw the organization’s strategy — he still does — and Brown had control of the roster while tearing it down to the studs as part of a radical method aimed at stockpiling draft picks and salary-cap space.

Berry reported to Brown from 2016 until Brown’s loss to Jackson in one of those infamous Browns power struggles resulted in his firing late in 2017.

As GM, Berry will report directly to ownership along with DePodesta and Stefanski, who, like Berry, has a five-year contract. The Haslams and their son-inlaw, executive VP JW Johnson, form the ownership group.

In the court of public opinion, Berry is guilty by association for the Browns passing on quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson by trading the draft picks (second and 12th overall) used to select them in 2016 and 2017.

The Browns also chose Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett first overall in 2017, which would have turned out to the right decision if Super Bowl-bound Patrick Mahomes, picked 10th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs, hadn’t become arguably the best young quarterback in the league.

Of course, what’s worth taking into account is the Haslams and DePodesta have intimate knowledge of Berry’s culpability in those monumental decisions, and they are among his most passionate supporters.

And although Stefanski undoubtedly wanted to work with Paton again, he also had Berry on his GM wish list, Sports Illustrated reported Jan. 11.