Browns offensive line fueling early success

Early on this season, the Cleveland Browns offensive line has been solid

Before heading into this season, it was a must that the Cleveland Browns get better in the trenches. While I believe the defense line has been just average so far this year, the Browns offensive line has really taken over and fueled the Browns to their early 5-3 record.

According to Football Outsiders, the Browns are 3rd in run blocking, and are 8th in pass blocking. This shift in rankings for the Browns offensive line in something to celebrate, because if you have a solid offensive line, the sky is the limit on offense.

After the ugly game against the Raiders, Dan Labbe of cleveland.com vouched that the Browns have been doing a very good job of protecting Baker Mayfield, especially as of late.

"“Over the last two games, PFF recorded just ten drop backs by Mayfield they consider under pressure, just 17.5 percent of his drop backs, second only to Tom Brady among qualifying quarterbacks. It’s a sharp drop from the 43.5 percent of his drop backs he was under pressure against Pittsburgh and the 31 percent through his first six weeks total.” — Labbe, Cleveland.com"

Browns rookie tackle Jedrick Wills was off to a very good start to the season, but probably had one of his worse games against the Raiders. I like what I have seen from Wills so far, with a large amount of room for improvement.

With the bye week coming at a very fortunate time for the Browns, hopefully they can get Wyatt Teller back sooner rather than later. Teller has an outstanding grade of 94.4, and was very well in the conversation for being the best guard in the league before getting hurt.

Jack Conklin and J.C. Tretter have graded out above average and Joel Bitonio has been playing the best football of his career.

As the Browns offensive line continues to grow and build together, they are only going to get better. Don’t forget, Conklin is on a three-year deal, Wills rookie deal is four years, Tretter and Bitonio both remain with the team until 2023, and they have Teller until 2022.

The Browns are good in the trenches once again, and it appears they will be for some time.