What should the Browns do about Left Tackle?

What should the Browns do about left tackle?Credit: The Intelligencer

Posted By: County Sports Network April 1, 2020

What should the Browns do about left tackle? Benefits and liabilities

OK, so what should the Browns do about left tackle?

Do these new guys – Vice President of Football Administration and General Manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski – use their first-round pick, at No. 10 overall, in the 2019 NFL Draft to select one of the guys in a crop of talented left tackles?

Or do they trade with the Washington Redskins for veteran Trent Williams?

Or do they sign another veteran, free agent Jason Peters?

There’s a case for each plan of attack.

If the Browns use the draft to get their guy, then they can pair him with right tackle, and free-agent signee, Jack Conklin, giving them two quality tackles to anchor the offensive line they’re rebuilding. They could be the bookends of that line for the foreseeable future. That – two young, talented tackles starting their Browns careers at the same time — would be something – something that’s never really been done in Browns history.

But the downfall is that the Browns would be having a rookie protecting franchise quarterback Baker Mayfield’s blind side, and it takes a while for rookies to learn the pro game. Not everyone is Joe Thomas, whose learning curve was rather seamless.

If they deal for Williams, then they would be getting one of the best left tackles in the game. He could step right in and be the guy. He would be 32 by the time training camp begins – if, indeed, it begins on time – and but he still has some tread left on the tires and thus the Browns could immediately sign him to a multi-year contract. However, it would cost them dearly in that the Redskins would hold them up for some high draft picks, quite possibly including that No. 10 overall this year.

If they sign Peters, then he would also be a step-right-in player of high quality. But, at 38 and nearing the end of the road, it would likely be only for a one-year rental. The Browns would be back on the trail looking for their left tackle next year at this time.

Most “experts” think the best way for the Browns to go is to draft their guy this year at No. 10. They also think it’s way the team will go.

But it may not be the way the Browns – what with their highly analytics-based approach and everything – are thinking, and will be doing.

This issue – what to do at left tackle – is the theme for the Browns this offseason, especially, of course, for Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski in that it will be their first defining decision and will set the course for their tenure going forward.

Remember, first impressions tend to last.

So, whatever these new guys do, it absolutely has to be the right move.

What should the Browns do about left tackle? by Steve King

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