Sashi Brown, Paul DePodesta

Some NFL execs think the Browns should've hired more traditional football men to run the team.

(John Kuntz, Cleveland.com)

MOBILE, Ala. -- Several top NFL personnel executives are seeing red over the Browns' all-Crimson front office.

A number of highly respected personnel men at the Senior Bowl criticized the Browns' new top brass, which features three Harvard-educated men with little or no experience scouting college players: Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta and Vice President of Player Personnel Andrew Berry, who's only 28.

One went so far as to say:"They should be ashamed of themselves.''

It's not the Ivy League credentials or the analytics bent that are bothering some longtime personnel men. It's the fact that the Browns have bypassed a chance to hire some of the best football minds in the NFL and instead have put non-traditional executives in charge of the roster.

Brown was the club's general counsel, primarily in charge of the salary cap and negotiating contracts. The 2016 Senior Bowl was his first, and he'll admittedly start watching more film than ever before.

DePodesta came from the Mets, and although he played receiver at Harvard and football is his first love, he's never formally scouted NFL talent.

Berry has spent the past seven seasons in scouting with the Colts, including the last four as pro scouting director. But he's studied mostly existing NFL players and not college prospects. He's assisted with the college process, but hasn't been responsible for making those picks.

Berry joined the Colts in 2009 as an entry-level scouting assistant and became a pro scout in 2011. Moving quickly up the ranks, he was named pro scouting director in 2012.

Sources at the Senior Bowl raved about Berry's intelligence, work ethic and character. He's very respected in the business and viewed as a rising young star.

But top execs -- football purists who have paid their dues for decades in some cases -- lament that the Browns passed on opportunities to hire some of the best talent evaluators in the business such as Jaguars director of player personnel Chris Polian, Chiefs director of football operations Chris Ballard, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin, Falcons assistant general manager Scott Pioli, Cardinals vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough, Packers director of player personnel Eliot Wolf and others.

The Browns, who are using an innovative approach to try to shake the team out of its decades-long slumber, lost some of the top candidates right off the bat by giving control over the 53-man roster to Brown and not hiring a general manager.

A number of teams blocked the Browns from interviewing their executives because they weren't offering a promotion. A more prudent approach would have been to leave open the 53-man roster and the general manager title -- and interview the best in the business.

The Browns, however, are confident they attracted the top candidates among the eight or so they interviewed and landed a rising star.

"Andrew is really intelligent," Haslam told reporters Thursday night at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. "He's very organized. He's very process-oriented. He'll be a great team player, he'll work well with everybody in the organization. I think he'll understand what Hue (Jackson) and the coaches need and I think he'll go out and find those players for us.''

He noted that most of the candidates were "outside the box, but I don't know that Andrew (falls into that category). He played college football. He's been a scout with one of the better organizations in pro football and run their pro personnel department since he got out of school. He's younger, but I don't know that he's non-traditional."

Despite the fact the moves have raised eyebrows around the league, Haslam felt Berry was the best fit for the Browns.

"I cannot tell you how excited we all were and Andrew had several different offers to do something with other teams,'' he said.

Within about three years, the Browns will know just how smart their new moves were.