Cleveland Browns have not developed an O-Lineman since Joel Bitonio

Developing offensive lineman is not what the Cleveland Browns do best

How could it be that the Cleveland Browns have not successfully developed a young offensive lineman since the likes of Pro Bowler Joel Bitonio back in 2014?

Is it possible that the last time a hotshot rookie came to town and broke into the starting line was Joel Bitonio back in 2014? That sounds like a crazy stat, but it is totally true, and very concerning.

Bitonio, needless to say, has been everything the Browns could have hoped for and more. He’s now a two-time Pro Bowler and has missed only one snap in the last three years. It’s not like the Browns need everyone to live up to the same standard, but the fact of the matter is that no young player has broken into the starting lineup on a full-time basis since 2014.

The Browns have continued to bring in young players and whiffed on all of them succeeding brilliantly with Bitonio. Fortunately, they have chosen well with established veterans including J.C. Tretter and now-departed Kevin Zeitler. The consensus view is that new tackle Jedrick Wills is going to be just fine at left tackle, and free agent Jack Conklin will become a fixture at right tackle.

Bitonio has been a great Brown over the years, it’s been a privilege to watch him play. But folks, if they only develop one good lineman every six years, it will take 30 years to build an entire line.

How could the Browns provide four offensive linemen to the world champion Kansas City Chiefs? Well, they did. The alarming thing is that all four played much better for Kansas City than for Cleveland.

First to leave was Mitchell Schwartz, the All-Pro who has the second leading consecutive snaps streak behind Joe Thomas at an incredible 7,894 snaps. This fan did not think we would see anyone in pro football get remotely close to JT at 10,363, but Schwartz made old Joe a little nervous for a while.

Schwartz was let go simply because Sashi Brown wanted to hoard salary cap dollars, and one of the consequences was that the Browns went through six quarterbacks in 2016 because the replacement players played like replacement players. The result was a broken collarbone, a fractured shoulder blade, a sprained knee, several concussions, and six quarterbacks.

Austin Reiter was mysteriously cut in 2018 despite have generally very good reviews as a backup to J. C. Tretter.  He stepped right in and has played well as the starting center.

Andrew Wylie was with the Browns in 2017, a time when there was no talent on the offensive line. He has started 21 games for the Chiefs in the past two years.

Cameron Erving, drafted in the first round in 2015, was not very good in Cleveland. In fact, he was terrible and confused about what position he should play. The Browns didn’t help him, moving him from guard to tackle to center to tackle to traded to Kansas City. Still, he seemed to have been slowly improving, and never really plateaued in Cleveland. In Kansas City, he continued to develop and played well as a starting guard, but struggled as a starting left tackle. He started 25 games for Kansas City in three years. The Chiefs let him go, however, and he is now a Dallas Cowboy.

So, we cannot say that the Browns draft horrible linemen, not when four have Super Bowl rings.  In fact, that is just a ridiculous stat. They could have drafted better, but the larger fault is that the coaching staff was not able to develop the talent that they were given.