Mike Florio ,
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Paul DePodesta must have really enjoyed this year’s World Series.
The Browns’ “chief strategy officer” is reportedly going is going back to the sport from which he came. Via multiple reports, DePodesta will become the Colorado Rockies’ head of baseball operations.
Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reported that DePodesta is “ deep into conversations ” with the Rockies. Within 10 minutes, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com was more definitive: “ DePodesta is leaving .”
Most Browns fans will respond to the news by saying, if not shouting, “Good riddance.”
DePodesta arrived in Cleveland nearly a decade ago. The organization embraced and adapted his well-documented analytics-based approach. It has yielded two playoff berths and two horrible seasons — 1-15 in 2016 and 0-16 in 2017.
Early on, the strategy included glorified tanking, with incentives paid to coaches and front-office executives based on rolling over cap space and stockpiling draft picks. It resulted in a grievance from former coach Hue Jackson, who believed he was made to be the scapegoat for the team’s effort to be bad now in order to get better later.
The team’s record during his tenure is 57-101-1.
It’s frankly unclear whether and to what extent his strategies have led directly to actions. It seems that owner Jimmy Haslam keeps a subtle spoon in the stew, gently imposing his will while keeping plausible deniability.
Regardless, the DePodesta plan has never worked in Cleveland. At times, it has appeared that the Browns have no real strategy at all. And DePodesta rarely if ever is made available to the media.
Here’s the kicker. The single-worst transaction in NFL history — the trade for and long-term signing of quarterback Deshaun Watson — is on his watch.
He now joins the worst team, by far, in Major League Baseball. The Rockies lost 119 of 162 games in 2025.
Basically, he’s going to baseball’s version of the Browns. And he’s partially responsible for that.
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