Andrew Berry, Icarus, and the Watson Debacle
The strive for greatness is universal for most sports franchises, coaches, front offices, and athletes. If you want to succeed, you look for every and any cutting-edge you can; Some turn to steroids to rehab faster and/or bulk up, while some turn to spying on the opponent in ways that you hope are never found out. Other organizations will turn on beloved players because the expected ceiling for said player is lower than one that has the possibility of being acquired, despite the reasoning for said player being acquired was bound to make waves.
Do you know the story of Icarus? Father Daedalus and Icarus were imprisoned atop a mountain for helping Theseus escape from a labyrinth he was to be kept in. Daedalus was a crafter, a tinkerer, and created mechanical wings out of wax and feathers for father and son to escape their cell. Daedalus warned Icarus to not fly too low so as to not soak the wings with sea spray nor too high so as to melt the wax near the sun. Icarus, however, got caught up in the moment, and flew high into the sky. Drunk with the ability to fly, he sailed too high, melting his wings, and was sent dashing onto the rocks below.
Sound like someone we all know? Let’s set up the scenario that put Browns’ executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry in the “prison” that had him patching together some wax wings.
Andrew Berry has made a career of zagging when the industry is zigging. Using owner Jimmy Haslam’s deep deep pockets, *insert Jean Ralphio “FllluuUUshhh with CAAAsshHH” GIF* Berry has converted nearly everything into bonuses of various types to ensure the cap room was clear for rollover minutes dollars. Baker Mayfield was in the fold, Myles Garrett was decimating foes, Nick Chubb was “Chubba Wubba Hubb”-ing over the league. The team had just come off a season where they 1) made the playoffs, 2) decimated the Steelers in their own stadium, and 3) were a no-call on Daniel Sorenson away from possibly being in the AFC Championship. All was good with the world until Anthony Schwartz didn’t extend for a pass.
You know the rest: Baker bangs up his shoulder and fights with the organization and coaching staff over whether or not to get surgery. He insisted he could play, and it was obvious that, while he couldn’t make the injury worse, he was limited. That made it extremely easy for the front office to be able to say “sayonara” to Mayfield when former All-Pro Deshaun Watson became available via trade from the Houston Texans. Of course, Watson was on the trade block because of the sexual assault allegations levied against him by 27 different women. Feathers, meet wax.
A $230 million fully guaranteed deal, three first-round picks, and Cleveland made it happen; once Watson finally cleared an 11-game suspension, he started in 2022 and was set to start the 2023 campaign as “The Guy”. However, he only got 6 games into the season before he popped a shoulder capsule on a hit against the Baltimore Ravens, which made him miss the rest of the season. 2024 brought about seven more starts, six of those losses, before his Achilles’ tendon shivered on a QB keeper against the Cincinnati Bengals. His play had been so bad to this point and his personality so sour that the fans in attendance cheered when he was carted off the field. Watson missed the rest of the 2024 season and all of the 2025 season, recovering from rupturing the tendon a second time. A competition was set up between “incumbent” starter Shedeur Sanders and Watson for 2026, this coming after a 2025 offseason that had owner Haslam call the Watson acquisition, “a swing and a miss”. You can start to feel that heat from the sun now, can’t you, Icarus?
The Berry hubris was always in kicking the can down the road: whether it be on collecting insurance monies on Watson’s missed seasons or restructuring the deal to allow for more void years and extended pain of paying. However, there was always the expectation that he would play well enough to warrant the contract and that hasn’t happened to this end. All of it came to a head on Saturday.
Playing the third quarter of Preseason Week 2 against second- and third-team players, Watson turned in a performance so piss poor that whatever fans were still in attendance rained boos down upon him. In the post-game presser, Watson adjusted diamond earrings, patted a gold-plated watch, and made the following statement: “It has nothing to do about the performance. It’s a bit more personal than that. It’s a disrespectful thing. Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles and that same fan base cheered.” Drip, drip, drip goes the wax…splash, splash, splash goes the sea water as the Browns organization goes crashing into the ocean.
Calling out the fan base that has put up with no-shows due to injury or performances so bad you almost beg for the days of Deshone Kizer is a horrible decision for Watson. If there is one organization that listens to fans more than others, it’s the one that was brought back from the dead in 1999 purely based off of their fans. It’s perfectly understandable for Watson to feel bad about getting booed; No one likes to cause displeasure and everyone who steps onto a professional sports field wants to perform well. However, to call out the fans for being “disrespectful” to him and feeling personally attacked by the response of the masses is a PR nightmare that this organization has not seen in quite some time. It would be incredibly easy for someone with even a remotely normal personality to answer the question of "how does it feel to be booed by your home fans?" by saying something along the lines of "Nobody wants to be booed, and I am working on giving these fans a better product." But not Deshaun. Even head coach Todd Monken didn’t let it slide in his press conference. When asked about Watson’s comments, Monken made the point to say, “If you don’t want to be booed, then play better.”
The team is now at a crossroads. All signs going into last weekend pointed to Watson being named the starter; while not exactly earned, Watson has an edge in being a veteran, knowing more of the offense, and the fact that the team can more feasibly bench him in-season to go with the younger Sanders than vice versa. However, after the comments from Watson, the team should look at any and all avenues to keep him off not only the field, but the sidelines as well as team meetings and locker rooms.
This season was meant to be his last in a Browns uniform once they realized his return to form was not returning. The dead cap hit was going to be spread out across 2027 and 2028, when the rookie QB they inevitably draft in 2027 is saving the cap. Now we’ve hit a point where running him out there is organizational malpractice, whether or not the product on the field is lacking. Berry’s gambit of pushing for the last drops of value and production has caused his demise. Two good-to-great draft classes likely can’t erase the taste of having a fully guaranteed, highly paid quarterback not worth his salt, calling out fans for being mean to him when he hasn’t kept up his end of the bargain.
We will find out today, Monday, who Monken announces as starting quarterback for Week 1. Watson could be the decision; it was leaked that the announcement would be made today and that Watson’s comments would not be brought into consideration when making the determination, yet another sign that Watson is all but guaranteed the job. But is ownership willing to flame every fan in Northeast Ohio by allowing Monken’s decision to be his and his alone? Will Berry listen to the advice and try to dip low so as to not burn up in the sun? We will see if the wings hold up as Icarus takes flight.
