Once new GM Andrew Berry (l) was hired, it became unlikely Highsmith would want to staybrowns
The "last vestiges" of former Browns GM John Dorsey's regime "followed him out the door," as the team parted ways with Assistant GM Eliot Wolf, VP/Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith and Dir of College Scouting Steve Malin, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The moment new Exec VP/Football Operations & GM Andrew Berry was hired, it was a "given that Highsmith would not want to stay." Highsmith "clashed with the analytics-driven approach" of Browns Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta from day one, and had "no desire to stay now that the Browns are re-affirming their commitment to that model." The Browns spent yesterday "trying to work out an arrangement with Wolf," but eventually "decided to part ways." There is "no denying that the all-Ivy League triumvirate" of DePodesta, Berry and new coach Kevin Stefanski "marks a paradigm shift back to the data-driven method of selecting players and assisting in playcalling and gameplanning." Dorsey, Highsmith and Wolf were "old school traditional scouts who relied most heavily on traditional scouting methods of visiting schools and watching tape." The "disconnect between Dorsey's crew and DePodesta's was evident the whole two-plus years he was in the building" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/30).
