Jori EpsteinSenior reporterMon, April 27, 2026 at 6:37 PM UTC·21 min readBEREA, Ohio — It’s 8:38 p.m. on Thursday in the Cleveland Browns' draft room and general manager Andrew Berry stands up, grabs a water bottle, then sets it down to take out his phone.
It’s the first night of the 2026 NFL Draft, and the Browns have already traded the sixth overall pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for picks 9, 74 and 148. Now two more NFC teams are calling with offers they hope will compel Cleveland to move down, yet again, from pick nine.
The first team relays its offer to Ken Kovash, the Browns’ vice president of player personnel process and development. Kovash, along with assistant general managers Glenn Cook and Catherine Hickman, are designated phone operators for Browns trade considerations. And the Browns have a lot of trade considerations.
The second NFC team’s general manager calls Berry directly. Would the Browns move off No. 9 and risk losing one of their top targets?
“Depends what’s on the board — what are you thinking?” Berry asks.
He scribbles in his notebook: “I’ll think about it once we get on the clock.”
Both trade offers enter a Browns database that assesses their value. An analysis appears on the third of five large screens canvassing the Browns’ draft room walls. Each of the five displays gives Cleveland’s executives a different lens into the high-stakes decision-making process upon which they’re embarking. Each display is programmed to update within five to 10 seconds of every pick in the draft.
“OK, obviously we got some trade activity,” Berry tells a room full of his vice presidents, scouts and team ownership. “Everyone’s still trying to do cut-rate market pricing, so I’m not optimistic. If we pick at 9, it’ll be Spencer first … ”
Berry pauses to type furiously on his phone, still standing in an otherwise seated room. To his right, team owner Jimmy Haslam confers with head coach Todd Monken. Berry’s eyes move from display to display, his arms folded. Then his phone lights up from his left side and he smiles.
It’s good to smile in high-stakes and high-pressure moments. It’s good, too, to covet an offensive tackle first and foremost in this draft.
Because at 8:48 p.m., the New Orleans Saints select Arizona wide receiver Jordyn Tyson with the eighth overall pick, making official the Browns’ chance to begin the run on offensive tackles. Berry turns to national scout Zach Ayers: “This was your orange dot, buddy. Tell us what we like about Spencer Fano.”
From the two rows of scouts’ chairs near the entrance to the draft room, Ayers begins to explain why he designated the Utah offensive tackle an “orange dot,” which in Browns scouting parlance means Fano has elite character and makeup.
“We’re getting the best tackle in this entire draft,” Ayers says. “This kid's rare combination of athleticism, quickness, strength, and his ability to excel on pass protection is truly something special. He's an excellent run blocker. He's gritty, he's tough, he’s rangy. And the most important thing: This is the best person in the entire draft. This is one of the highest-character guys I've done in the 10 years I've been on the road. And whatever goal or expectation we have of Spencer as a person, his goals and expectations are going to be higher than ours.
“The twitchiest, quickest offensive tackle in the draft,” Cox says. “He excels in pass pro. Great feet. And in the run game, you see the athleticism show up there as well. He can open his hips, he can pull—”
Cox continues as the landline phone on the boardroom table rings.
“This dude is so versatile—” RING RING. “I mean, he’s a slam dunk.” RING RING.
Berry reaches for the phone while instructing his colleagues “Let’s hold for a second please.” The room dissolves into laughter over the rapidly changing realities of the NFL Draft during which scouts can celebrate the newest roster member during the mandatory four minutes a team must wait to submit its first-round selection … only to then encounter an opponent giving a last, best shot to reverse that outcome.
“That wouldn’t really work for us,” he says into the phone. “I appreciate you, though. All right, best of luck.”
After hanging up, Berry brands the offer: “Not enough.”
With a general manager as comfortable trading as Berry is, they believe him.