Before Andrew Berry ever talked about rebuilding the Cleveland Browns or finding a new head coach, he was quietly doing something the NFL rarely celebrates enough: opening doors.

At the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, the Browns general manager was honored with the 2026 Buddy Teevens Forward Progress Award. It’s the league’s recognition for those who advance opportunities for women inside football organizations.

The award carries the legacy of late Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens, a pioneer who hired women like Callie Brownson and Jennifer King long before the NFL made inclusion a talking point. So, when Berry got the award, he didn’t lean into the applause without a dose of self-awareness.

“I’ll be honest, it feels a little bit weird in 2026 accepting an award for hiring women in the workplace,” Berry said.

That line said more than any polished PR statement ever could. It wasn’t false modesty; it was a challenge to the league itself: this shouldn’t still be remarkable. He also made a point to thank the many women within the Browns organization.

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“I really just want to say how proud and appreciative I am of all the fantastic women that we have in the Browns organization and across local operations,” Berry said. “They help us push for greatness and excellence every day, and I’m so blessed and thankful to have co-workers and teammates that are like the ones that are in this room.”

The Buddy Teevens award, established in 2023, has always carried a forward-looking mandate. Last year’s recipient was Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren, another executive celebrated for restructuring his organization’s leadership pipeline. Berry now joins that lineage. And in doing so, he signals that the Browns, a franchise better known for dysfunction than distinction, are building something worth emulating off the field. And Berry closed his speech with a vision that doubles as a quiet indictment.

“I hope ten years from now, this is commonplace,” Berry said. “It’s not something that necessarily has to be celebrated.”

For Andrew Berry, that’s the real North Star: not the award, but making the award obsolete. For now, Berry revels in his latest achievement. But the tall task of rebuilding the Browns lies ahead. Trophies don’t win games, and Berry knows that better than anyone.

Andrew Berry’s 2026 blueprint

To be fair, the Browns knew their franchise needed fixing long before the 2025 season ended. After a brutal 5-12 finish and Kevin Stefanski’s subsequent firing from the head coaching position, Andrew Berry addressed the Dawg Pound directly with a promise.

“My message to the fans is we know how difficult this year has been, and we appreciate the loyalty, the passion, the commitment to the team, regardless of what we’re going through,” Berry said. “And that’s something we will never take for granted. My commitment to you all is to make sure that we find the right leader and build the right roster that allows us to have perennial success.”

Berry has since found that new head coach in Todd Monken and outlined a deliberate offseason approach. Berry also noted that Monken would play a pivotal role in solving Cleveland’s quarterback nightmare. But just finding a quarterback won’t get them to the Super Bowl.

So, when Myles Garrett, the defensive end who broke the league’s single-season sack record with 23 in 2025, made it clear a ‘rebuild’ wasn’t in his vocabulary, Berry reframed the mission with his own view of an offseason plan.

“I think when people hear the term rebuild, and probably specifically here, really their thought is tearing out,” Berry said in a presser. “The idea that you’re turning away a number of prime players or veterans and you’re accumulating resources and things of that nature. When we think about where we are in our transition, it really is about building up the offense.”

The Browns’ defense is already elite, with Garrett alone giving offensive coordinators plenty of nightmares. So, Andrew Berry has signaled a more aggressive free agency posture heading into the offseason, with Cleveland expected to invest heavily on the offensive side.

The pieces are there, and the plan is clear for the front office. As for the man running the show, he just proved he builds more than rosters; he builds cultures. Whether the plan comes to fruition or not is something we’ll have to wait to find out.