Cleveland Browns: 3 storylines to watch in Week 1 vs. Pittsburgh
By Randy Gurzi
No. 3 The drama at left tackle
One of the biggest knocks on John Dorsey as a GM is that he doesn’t always build a complete roster. He’s an excellent talent evaluator, but at times he hasn’t looked at some of the finer points of building a roster.
An example of this is how the Browns handled the loss of All-Pro left tackle Joe Thomas. Rather than go out and find a true replacement, Dorsey and head coach Hue Jackson just got a bunch of linemen and figured they could throw one out there.
That’s not how it works.
More from Dawg Pound Daily
- Cleveland Browns critics continue to misplace their judgement
- 3 Cleveland Browns players who don’t deserve another season in 2023
- How the Browns could maximize Nick Chubb in 2023
- Can Deshaun Watson get to Patrick Mahomes level for Cleveland Browns?
- 3 Cleveland Browns who should see an expanded role in 2023 and 1 who should not
First, they thought moving Shon Coleman from right tackle to left was an option. Coleman struggled on the right side and nothing suggested playing a tougher position was a cureall. That failed and he’s not on the team.
Believing Coleman could handle the job was wrong and it also led them to ignore any options in free agency. Despite having multiple draft picks, they didn’t get a left tackle there either. Instead, Dorsey picked Austin Corbett in the second round, a player who won’t start because their interior players are fine. Sure, maybe Corbett was better than some of the tackles on the board, but Dorsey didn’t consider need in this one — part of that knock on his team building.
As we all know, this oversight led Cleveland to put Joel Bitonio at left tackle and have Corbett replace him at guard. That seemed to be working fine, but then Hue Jackson threw a curveball and right before their game he decided to start undrafted free agent Desmond Harrison — thus putting Corbett, their No. 33 pick on the bench as Bitonio moved back to guard.
This could be an issue all season long unless Harrison bails them out and plays better than expected. Sunday will be our first chance to see how it plays out.