Cleveland Browns: Moving Joel Bitonio to left tackle is “last resort”

The left tackle position remains a concern for the Cleveland Browns, but it is very unlikely Joel Bitonio would be moved to the position.

What seems like a never ending story, there remains a lot of concerns about who will be the starting left tackle for the Cleveland Browns.

Since Joe Thomas retired, Shon Coleman has been the very lightly penciled in starter for the Browns. It was expected to be a hotly-contested training camp battle, but Coleman’s competitors keep falling out.

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Greg Robinson – who started camp as the second-team left tackle – suffered a concussion, and it is unknown when he will return.

Undrafted rookie Desmond Harrison has yet to take the practice field after being placed on the PUP list to begin camp. Although it was unlikely he would win the starting job, he could have surprised the team had he been healthy.

And the Browns are still trying to figure out the best position to play for rookie Austin Corbett. He got the most reps as the second-team left guard, and then would move to tackle on the third-team. But after Robinson’s injury, Corbett will now play as the second-team left tackle.

Now with more uncertainty than there was before camp started regarding the tackle position, Browns offensive line coach Bob Wylie was asked about the prospects of moving left guard Joel Bitonio to left tackle. And Wylie practically shut down that notion.

Bitonio is arguably the Browns best offensive linemen and has experience playing the left tackle position from his college days. But Bitonio’s college days are five years in the past.

Since he entered the NFL, there was no need to experiment with putting Bitonio at left tackle due to the presence of Thomas. It’s unlikely that Bitonio has played that many reps at tackle with Cleveland.

Wylie also saying that moving Bitonio to tackle is the last resort, then that means Bitonio would not get that many reps at tackle in a new Todd Haley offense before the season starts.

From the reports from camp, Coleman has held up well as the starting left tackle. He is also playing against stiff competition going up against defensive ends like Myles Garrett.

Keeping Bitonio at guard would be in the best interest of the team and Bitonio. When healthy, Bitonio is one of the best guards in the league. Moving him from guard would take away from one of the strengths of the team – the interior offensive line.