Cleveland Browns OTA’s showed Austin Corbett still needs more work

Austin Corbett is expected to be the Cleveland Browns starting right guard, but voluntary OTA’s may have shown he still needs more work.

If there was one disappointing aspect of the 2018 season for the Cleveland Browns, it was the lack of success – or playing time – for two of their early selections in the 2018 NFL Draft: Austin Corbett and Chad Thomas.

Neither player saw the field often during their rookie season and put a damper on an otherwise stellar rookie class. But for Corbett, he is expected to see a major jump in playing time next season, or at least is supposed to.

After the Browns traded Kevin Zeitler to the New York Giants in March, Corbett is set up to be the next man up at first-team right guard, a position many draft analysts expected him to play once he entered the NFL.

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But even though Corbett is moving to a position he was expected to play in the NFL and had a full year of practice to adjust to the NFL, he still may have some trouble adjusting to becoming a starter on the Browns offensive line.

During the one Browns practice that was available to the media, Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com focused on Corbett. And it was apparent to Lesmerises that Corbett is still being coached slowly during his transition to being a starter.

"They’re starting slow. Corbett, a backup a year ago after getting picked with the first pick of the second round, looks like he needs to ease in. When the Browns went 11-on-11, the first-team offensive line was set. Almost. The four returning starters were always in there. Corbett was also in maybe 80 percent of the time. – Lesmerises, cleveland.com"

Lesmerises also said the coaches were mostly working with Corbett instead of the other four starters on the Browns offensive line. Corbett also worked with the second-team offensive line, which Lesmerises said it looked “like he fit in better there.”

Although it is still extremely early and there are still several months until the Browns take the field for their first game action, Corbett looking more like a second-team player is concerning. There is still plenty of time for him to clean up his game, but it is the not the best start in his transition to becoming a starter.

The Browns interior offensive line was the strength of the unit last season, helping Baker Mayfield and the rest of the offense take off during the second of the half of the season. If the Browns want to replicate that success, they are going to need Corbett to perform at a level in which Mayfield is not scrambling around the backfield because of poor play by Corbett.

If Corbett is unable to perform at a high enough level to play as the starting right guard, there is enough veteran depth on the offensive line – Eric Kush, Bryan Witzmann – to help limit the problem. But for being a second-round selection, it would be a bad sign for Corbett if he is not starting in his second season.

The Browns may have felt they had a solid replacement in Corbett when they traded Zeitler, who was one of the best guards in the league last season. But unless Corbett can turn things around the rest of the summer, he may no longer be looked at as the next man up.