The Cleveland Browns have been a team in turmoil for the last few seasons. A playoff win over the arch-rival Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020 gave the fans a lot of hope. But after the franchise flamed out in 2021, the powers that be pressed the reboot button on the offense. They paid three first-round choices for Houston Texans quarterback DeShaun Watson, and promptly handed him $230 million. They patiently waited for Watson’s suspension to end.
The 2022 team was supposed to rely on ball control offense, anchored by a stout defense with talent at both ends. That plan failed badly. Defensive coordinator Joe Woods was fired and the team has rebuilt to match the schemes of newly arrived Jim Schwartz.
Throughout all that turmoil, one position has remained incredibly stable: the Cleveland Browns offensive line.
Browns Offensive Line: The Rock Championships Are Built On
Stability Breeds Chemistry
In a league that increasingly values highlight reel runs and circus performer catches, it would be easy to ignore the men in the trenches. However, the offensive line accounts for an astounding 23% of any team’s starters. For the uninitiated, everyone knows that football is a game of inches. But it is also a game of seconds. For a quarterback, the difference between having three seconds to survey the field and five seconds is often everything. That all starts up front, with the offensive line.
It’s no accident that Pro Football Focus has rated the Browns offensive line second in the NFL this season, sandwiched between the two recent Super Bowl teams. Four of the Browns offensive line starters have remained unchanged since 2020.
The New Kid on the Block
The newest member of the Browns offensive line, center Ethan Pocic, had a career year in 2022. Forced to the top of the depth chart after a season-ending injury to presumed starter Nick Harris, Pocic gelled with the squad quickly. He allowed just 10 pressures all season. He ranked fifth among centers with a pass block win rate of 96.2%, and fourth in run block win rate with 74.6%. Pocic was rewarded with a three-year extension.
The Team’s Longest Tenured Player
Lining up next to Pocic is left guard Joel Bitonio, the senior member of the Browns offensive line. Bitonio keeps getting better with age. He was named a PFF All-Pro after allowing just one sack all season. His PFF 84.5 run-blocking grade helped pave the way for Nick Chubb’s career year. In fact, Chubb’s career rushing average of 5.2 yards per carry is largely due to Bitonio’s efforts in the trenches.
A Step Away from Greatness
The biggest question on the Browns offensive line continues to come from perhaps its most important position. Jedrick Wills Jr is counted on at left tackle to protect the blindside of Cleveland’s quarter-billion-dollar investment. By now, the Browns expected the 2020 10th overall choice to be among the league’s elite. However, after allowing six sacks in 2022, he was ranked No. 60 among qualifying tackles.
Coming up against the end of his rookie deal, the Browns did pick up Wills’ $14 million extension. GM Andrew Berry has shown a willingness to let his draft choices develop. The $14 million is as much a show of good faith as rewarding a job well done. But if Wills wants to remain a member of the Browns offensive line past 2024 – and nab a huge raise to boot – he’ll need to step it up this year. That is a tall order for a quarterback like Watson, who often scrambles and improvises to add an extra second or two. That’s an extra second or two of sustained blocking, and in Wills’ position, those that can do that are elite. Those that aren’t… don’t get paid.
Managing Development
The Browns have already started planning for the future at the position by using one of their limited draft picks on human mountain Dawand Jones. Jones, who stands 6-8 and weighs an eye-popping 374 pounds, was projected as high as the late first round. Cleveland was able to add him to their ranks for a mere fourth. Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan is among the best in developing technique, which is exactly what Jones needs.
Cleveland hopes Jones’ development mirrors that of right guard Wyatt Teller. Teller was a late-round choice for the Buffalo Bills in 2018, then traded to the Browns for not much a year later. Within two seasons, Teller had earned a four-year, $56.8 million contract, and ranked among the best in the league. A second-team all-pro in 2020, he managed the second-best PFF grade for guards in 2021.
The Missing Piece
As Bitonio and Teller developed in the middle, the Browns knew they were a piece short going into that 2020 season. That led them to former Tennessee Titan Jack Conklin. Conklin, who was an All-Pro as a rookie, managed the feat again in 2020. Returning from injuries in 2022, he was voted a Pro Bowl alternate and won the team’s Ed Block Courage Award for his gritty comeback. Cleveland rewarded the Browns offensive lineman with a four-year, $60 million contract late last year. That will go a long way to ensuring his wish to end his career as a Cleveland Brown.
Waiting in the Wings
2022 was disappointing all around in Cleveland, but much more so for center Nick Harris. Harris, who also came to the team in that pivotal 2020 season, was considered something of a developmental choice. Harris earned a chance to start in late 2021 and entered last season as the presumed starter at center. But a right knee injury took care of that and paved the way for Pocic. Now he’ll fight for playing time instead.
Joining Harris and the aforementioned Jones in the rotation is rookie sixth rough choice Luke Wypler. Wypler, like Jones, was drafted out of Ohio State this season as yet another development play for the team. The Browns, who give their draft choices a lot of lead time, also have 2021 fourth-round choice James Hudson III and 2019 sixth-rounder Drew Forbes on the depth chart.
In the 1980s, Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs famously won three Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins, sporting a different quarterback and a new running back each time. Credit for those wins goes largely to The Hogs: an elite offensive line unit that the team developed and kept together for years.
In the age of free agency, opportunities to develop a unit like The Hogs are hard to come by. But, after all the turnover and turmoil, if the Browns are holding a Lombardi Trophy in the near future, much credit will go to the 21st-century equivalent. All they need now is a cool nickname.
Main Photo: Brad Mills – USA TODAY Sports
