Cleveland Browns should not put faith in signing top free agent offensive tackles

The Cleveland Browns will be heavily involved in the offensive tackle market this offseason, but they should not have faith in targeting the top free agent tackles.

Entering the offseason, one of the clear objectives for the Cleveland Browns was to improve their offensive line play. Most notably, they were likely going to need find answers at both of their starting offensive tackle jobs.

Greg Robinson and Chris Hubbard both struggled mightily in 2019, and it created a lot of issues for the offense. Although they were solid in run blocking, their tendency to get beat off the edge in pass protection and also drawing penalties hindered Cleveland’s offense.

Robinson is set to be a free agent this offseason and Hubbard is expected to be a cap casualty. Both the starting left tackle and right tackle jobs are expected to be open, giving the new Browns front office the option to bring in their own guys for the jobs.

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With the 10th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Browns are widely expected to use that selection on one of the top offensive tackles in the draft class, if the team does not decide to trade down and out of range of the top offensive tackles.

Another approach the Browns could take is target some of the available free agent offensive tackles. As it currently sits, two of the most notable offensive tackles set to be free agents are Jack Conklin and Bryan Bulaga. Anthony Castonzo is also set to be a free agent, but he is reportedly contemplating retirement at the age of 31.

It is a limited offensive tackle market, which is generally expected as teams highly value offensive tackles and generally do not let the good ones reach free agency. With a thin offensive tackle market, the price to sign the top offensive tackle as several teams will be vying to add the edge protectors.

However, the price for the offensive tackles has likely gone up already after the Arizona Cardinals signed D.J. Humphries to a three-year, $45 million extension on Monday. Humphries was viewed as a mid-tier offensive tackle in the free agent market, so his $15 million annual salary in his new deal was quite surprising.

His deal also set the market for the top offensive tackles in free agency, and they will likely be looking for bigger deals than Humphries. With that being said, it could prove to be a tough sell for the Browns to try to land one of the best available free agent offensive tackles.

Although the Browns will have a solid amount of cap space this offseason, they would be wise to not burn it up with some big extensions looming in the future. Being forced to sign an offensive tackle to a deal that would make them one of the highest paid linemen annually would not be a prudent move.

The Browns could look to sign a mid-tier free agent offensive tackle such as Halapoulivaati Vaitai or Kelvin Beachum, but betting on signing one of the top free agent tackles may not be in the cards for the Browns anymore.