Cleveland Browns: Predicting the starting offense in 2017
By Shane Carter
Offensive Tackle: Joe Thomas; Shon Coleman
Joe Thomas is a future Hall of Famer and continues to be an elite left tackle. Sorry Roderick Johnson, you’ll have to wait a while before you get your chance.
The real competition is at right tackle between former first-round pick Cameron Erving and Shon Coleman. The knock on Erving is that he has played both center and guard and was awful at both. It wasn’t until he was switched to right tackle for the season finale that he finally looked decent.
Erving will get his shot in training camp, but Coleman was projected to be a late-first or early-second-round pick out of Auburn, so he is talented. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and looks more natural at the position than Erving. It’ll be close, but Coleman should earn the starting nod.
Related: Is Roderick Johnson the left tackle of the future
Guard: Joel Bitonio; Kevin Zeitler
Both players got a nice pay day this offseason. Bitonio got a six-year extension worth more than $51 million, and Zeitler moved from the Cincinnati Bengals for five-year, $60 million deal. Not only are these guys being paid like starters, they very much earned it.
Zeitler is a player Browns fans should get excited about as he is an immediate upgrade on the right side and a valuable use of the team’s enormous cap space. The one caution is Bitonio’s health, having been placed on season-ending injured reserve each of the past two seasons. If he can stay healthy, there’s no doubt he’s a great player who will help improve the line from a year ago.
Center: J.C. Tretter
J.C. Tretter signed a three-year, $16.75 million contract to leave Green Bay, and while he may not be Alex Mack, he is certainly a step up from Cam Erving.
However, like Bitonio, Tretter too has been on injured reserve more than once in his career and will be closely monitored throughout the season. Also like Bitonio, his skills and talent warrant the money he received and Tretter should give Browns fans optimism that he’s a great upgrade at the position from last year.
This offensive line should be very good.