The Cleveland Browns made a rather unorthodox decision when they hired Paul DePodesta in 2016.
They brought in someone with a proven background in a different sport to aid in their decision-making process.
After successful tenures in Major League Baseball, the Browns appointed Paul DePodesta as their Chief Strategy Officer.
From that day on, the fans have mostly questioned his work at that position, oftentimes wondering what he actually does.
He’s expected to provide some analytics-based input on the team’s decisions and roster-building, yet many fans don’t seem to understand what he’s getting paid to do.
That’s why, in his latest mailbag session, one fan asked Browns insider Tony Grossi whether DePodesta has actually made an impactful contribution to the team.
Grossi’s response, however, might not appease the fans:
DePodesta’s greatest contribution was marrying head coach Kevin Stefanski with GM Andrew Berry. It fulfilled Jimmy Haslam’s directive to have peace and harmony between GM and head coach. To his credit, DePodesta also recommended Sean McDermott as a coaching candidate instead of Freddie Kitchens. On the other hand, he advocated quarterback Mitch Trubisky over Myles Garrett with the No. 1 pick in 2017,” Grossi said.
Of course, one could make a case for the Browns desperately needing a quarterback back then, and Trubisky did look like he would be a successful quarterback at the next level
Also, he wasn’t the only one who thought the Browns could’ve done better than taking Garrett at the time.
Fortunately, they didn’t listen to his pitch and ended up choosing the future Hall of Famer anyway.
Some fans also hold the Deshaun Watson trade against him as well.
Then again, that seemed like a good deal at the time, at least from a football perspective.
As things stand now, fans might not be necessarily thrilled with what he’s done.
