6 Cleveland Browns offensive linemen that got away

Surprise!  Austin Corbett is a starter

Austin Corbett could not play for the Browns. He was a draft bust par excellence, drafted with the first pick in the second round of the 2018 draft and failed at left tackle, left guard, right guard and center. The only position he was not tried at was right tackle.

But lo and behold after being traded for a fifth-round draft pick, he is now the starting left guard for the Los Angeles Rams. How did that happen?

However, in the interest of full disclosure, it would be an exaggeration to say that he has established himself in Los Angeles. After six straight starts, he’s graded 62nd overall among guards by Pro Football Focus, meaning that he is one of the weakest starters in the NFL.

At this point, he probably wouldn’t start ahead of Wyatt Teller. So it’s not like he has suddenly become a fantastic player. Nevertheless, he’s light years ahead of where he was in Cleveland, where the coaching staff regarded him as the Antichrist of the offensive line.

When he was drafted out of the Nevada Wolf Pack, he was a tackle. Many scouts felt that in the NFL he would be better suited for guard because of his size and weight (currently the Rams list him at 6-4 and 306 lbs, so he is not exactly Tinkerbell, but he is on the small side for an NFL tackle).

Nevertheless, the Browns had a vacancy at left tackle due to the retirement of Joe Thomas, so Corbett was given a chance to take the job but failed completely. This is not surprising as even very good tackles take time to develop.

For example, when the Ravens drafted Jonathan Ogden, they knew they wanted him to play left tackle. But they played him at left guard his rookie season before entrusting him with the job of protecting the quarterback’s blind side from the edge rusher.

Corbett was assigned to be Joel Bitonio’s backup in 2018, and in 2019 they gave him a shot at right guard in summer camp. He was so horrendous there that they decided to try him as a backup center with the idea he might replace J. C. Tretter in a few years. That was not satisfactory either, and when the Rams came calling looking for linemen, Corbett was gone.

This astonishing turn of events causes us to look at the Browns front office differently. General manager John Dorsey was widely criticized for taking Corbett when combine superstar Will Hernandez was still on the draft board. Now, however, we are going to have to follow Corbett’s career. If he continues to develop, perhaps he was not a draft bust at all. In that case, the onus falls on the Browns’ coaching staff to explain why they could not develop him.

Corbett’s situation seems to sum up the Browns enigma. Is it poor scouting that caused them to draft him in the first place? Or is it a poor ability to develop talent once they set foot in Berea?

You have to admit that it is impressive in some sense that so many ex-Browns have gone on to start in the NFL, though only Zeitler, Schwartz and Reiter are established regular starters. Schwartz and Zeitler would definitely have started for the Browns, whereas Reiter would have been a backup for Tretter (or could compete at guard).

Still, the Browns would seem to have had poor returns from taking Cameron Erving and Austin Corbett in the first and second rounds, respectively. Both have started this season but neither one is completely established.