Off-season thoughts (Vol. XXVI)

It sure looks as though Andrew Berry is attempting to play anything but fast and loose with Jimmy Haslam III's money.

If reports over this past weekend are to be believed, the Browns' general manager had an opportunity to unload Baker Mayfield's pricey contract to the Carolina Panthers as the college draft unfolded, but couldn't come to terms regarding who would pay the quarterback's money and how much.

Berry is playing a tight-fisted game with his owner's money, a game that has little chance, at best, of winding up in his favor. He found that out in his dealing with the Panthers, one of only a handful of teams looking to improve their quarterbacks room.

Again reportedly, the two teams struck a deal but were not on the same page on how to divvy up paying Mayfield's $19 million salary this season. That's where Berry's reluctance to part with too much of the boss' dough queered the deal.

The Panthers, who had no picks between their first-rounder and round four, almost immediately traded back into the third round and took a quarterback when talk ceased. It slammed a promising door and kept Mayfield on the Browns' roster.

Due to circumstances he had control over only momentarily at one point but not any longer, this has become a a major challenge for Berry and a big story nationally on a daily basis. There seems to be no satisfactory solution that would satisfy both parties.

"I wouldn't say it's any more challenging than really a lot of situations that cross a general manager's desk," Berry said recently. "It's a fluid situation. We'll deal with it day-to-day."And then he turned to the draft. "We are pleased with the weekend and with the guys we added," he said. Of course he did.

The list of teams even remotely interested in Mayfield seems to have dwindled to just one, the Seattle Seahawks, and that interest has reached only lukewarm status. 

Unless someone is lurking in the shadows with secret interest in Mayfield and waiting for the best opportunity to strike and go public, it has reached the point now where Berry probably is better off waiting and continue to monitor the situation on a daily basis.

This little soap opera -- A Divorce in Progress or Slow-Motion Divorce, take your pick -- will most likely have legs through mandatory minicamp and OTAs right through to the beginning of training camp in late July. Look for Mayfield, still recovering from shoulder surgery, to be excused from all activities until then.

That's when the story should regenerate to daily status. It very well could reach the point where Berry might have no choice but to tap deeply into the boss' extreme wealth and pay up to move his recalcitrant quarterback.

It's either that or flat-out releasing him and I don't see that happening. That way, any team could grab him. That, of course, would delight Mayfield the most. By loosening the pocket book, at least the Browns can dictate where he lands.

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The Browns signed 14 free agents following the draft, eight of them on offense. They include two linemen, a couple of tight ends, three wide receivers and a quarterback. The defense includes a linebacker, safety, two tackles and two cornerbacks. Don't get excited. They are basically training camp fodder.

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They also signed one college basketball player who quit playing football as a high school freshman to concentrate on basketball and invited another player, a local product with no football experience, to rookie minicamp. Both are big tight ends. 

Marcus Santos-Silva, a 6-6, 260-pounder, played five years of collegiate basketball before deciding he'd like to try football again. He joins Malik Smith, a 6-6, 265-pounder who played basketball at Cleveland Heights High School and just one year in college.

Smith, older brother of former Ohio State defensive lineman Tyreke Smith (drafted over the weekend by Seattle), got the invite from the Browns after impressing scouts during Ohio State's pro day last month.

Perhaps the Browns are hoping to get lucky with one of them as the San Diego Chargers did at the beginning of this century with Kent State basketball's Antonio Gates, a virtual certainty to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame within the next few years.