James Gladstone, Browns GM Detail How Draft Trade Came Together

Dateline Palm Beach, Fla. That’s where Travis Hunter began his road to Jacksonville in late February at the NFL’s annual league meeting. James Gladstone planted the first seed.

“We really didn't have a pre-existing relationship before the spring,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry said last week on the With the First Pick podcast. “And for a deal that big and to kind of keep it under wraps for that long, typically there has to be a really strong trust between the general managers and the organizations. And that's not, that's not easy to build in a short period of time.

“From my perspective, James, the youngest GM in the league, young family, when we talked, just his value system, how he communicated, his intelligence. It was one of those things like, ‘How have I not met this guy before?’”

He didn’t forget their first meeting because, after exchanging surface-level pleasantries at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Gladstone first took Berry’s temperature.

Gladstone said the trade ultimately came together about a month later during the first week of April. Then, the NFL’s two youngest general managers had to keep the deal under wraps for more than two weeks. Berry at his pre-draft press conference even convincingly compared Hunter to Shohei Ohtani.

Remarkably, they kept the lid fastened tightly until Tennessee took Cam Ward No. 1 overall, the last condition in the historic trade. But Gladstone had a theory as to how they were able to keep it confidential.

“I think I joked with you about keeping it quiet,” Gladstone told Berry on the podcast. “That's not always the easiest thing to do, and I was like, ‘Andrew, I think we're kind of in luck because nobody really actually has my number.’ It's not like I can talk to many people. Just the unknown caller, right?”

He’s a known commodity now after boldly consummating the blockbuster trade as his first significant decision in his career as an NFL general manager. Gladstone gave up a massive ransom to get Hunter.

The Browns dealt the No. 2, No. 104 and No. 200 overall choices to Gladstone. In return, Berry got the Jaguars’ No. 5 pick (Mason Graham), their second-rounder (No. 36, Quinshon Judkins), a fourth-round choice (No. 126, Dylan Sampson) and their 2026 first-round pick.

“He was somebody we thought could give us an impact on both sides of the ball,” Gladstone explained. “And I think we're seeing that unfold here throughout the course of the offseason program, really leaning in heavily to the offensive side at this stage, knowing that there's so much more nuance and learning and refinement that's required for him there. And his more natural position being that of corner, where he can spotlight.

“He's doing in the early going here a lot of what we had hoped that he would for the team, and that's bringing new life, bringing new energy and stuff that a lot of other people can start to use as fuel, so to speak.”

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