AP source: Browns part ways with VP of personnel Highsmith

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Browns have decided to part ways with vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith in the team’s latest front-office shakeup, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Highsmith, who was with Cleveland for two years, has left along with college scouting director Steve Malin, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the moves have not been made public.

Highsmith’s departure comes one day after the Browns announced the hiring of general manager Andrew Berry, who returned to Cleveland after spending one season in Philadelphia as the Eagles‘ vice president of football operations. Berry is the NFL’s youngest GM and only the second African American currently serving in that role.

Highsmith has been rumored to be on his way out since Dec. 31, when GM John Dorsey resigned after two seasons. Dorsey brought Highsmith to Cleveland after working with him in Green Bay. Highsmith, who played six seasons in the NFL, has been linked to a possible job at Miami, where he was a star running back for the Hurricanes in the 1980s.

It remains to be seen if Berry and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta will retain assistant GM Eliot Wolf. Like Highsmith, Wolf was hired by Dorsey.

Malin spent two seasons in Cleveland.