PFF taps Browns offensive line as league’s second best

The Cleveland Browns have worked hard to rebuild the offensive line and Pro Football Focus believes that work will pay off this fall.

The Cleveland Browns invested heavily in the offensive line in the offseason with the hopes of returning the unit to among the league’s best.

And if the analytics website Pro Football Focus turns out to be correct, it will be mission accomplished.

The website came out on Tuesday with its preseason ranking of the 32 offensive lines and they are projecting the Browns to be the second-best unit in the league:

"The offseason free agent spending spree could pay off huge dividends in Cleveland. J.C. Tretter and Kevin Zeitler both bring well above-average grades from a season ago at center and guard, respectively. The only question mark comes at right tackle where Shon Coleman looked at least competent in his 62 snaps as a rookie."

Take that in for a moment. The Browns offensive line may be better than the offensive line of the Dallas Cowboys (ranked No. 9 by PFF), considered one of the best in the league for years; better than the Oakland Raiders (No. 7), also talked about among the NFL’s best; and division rivals the Baltimore Ravens (No. 23) and Cincinnati Bengals (No. 31). (Myles Garrett, Emmanuel Ogbah and Danny Shelton, among others, would like a word with you Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton.)

Related: Browns need a healthy Joel Bitonio

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It was a job well done by executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown in bringing in center J.C. Tretter and right guard Kevin Zeitler in free agency, and my head coach Hue Jackson realizing that Cameron Erving is not an NFL center.

But potential is not production, and there are still some questions that have to be answered on the field for the Browns to fulfill the preseason hype.

Left tackle Joe Thomas, who is entering his 11th season, has to not see his game slip; left guard Joel Bitonio has to show he can stay healthy for an entire 16 games, something he has not done the past two seasons; Tretter has to prove he is a full-time starter after making just 10 starts in three seasons with the Green Bay Packers; and either Erving or second-year player Shon Coleman needs to lock down the right tackle position.

Related: Is Cameron Erving leading at right tackle?

Helping to bring all that together is offensive line coach Bob Wylie, who is in his first year with the Browns but has been coaching for 47 years. Wylie hasn’t had a chance to see the unit in anything other than gloried practices in minicamp and Organized Team Activities, but it has been so far, so good, according to clevelandbrowns.com:

"“They may not be side by side out there walking through it but they’re in the meetings learning it. It’s not going to take them long to get into the form. they’re good professionals and they know how to act as good professionals."

"“I like the challenge. The program is where it is. Now you have a challenge as a coach, especially with the line and what I saw on film from last year, to take that and make those five guys play at one heartbeat and get from 1-15 and get to the playoffs.”"

There is still a lot of football to be played before we learn for sure if Pro Football Focus’ projection about Cleveland’s offensive line is correct.

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But if it is, then the current rebuild will have taken a major step forward.