I will admit that I haven't seen him play,
but I am not optimistic about trading for a reject from one of the worst o-lines in the NFL.
I think I would rather use that 5th on Farmer, Rutledge, or one of the centers
j/c
There's something to be said for getting an NFL proven OL position filled with a 5th round pick.
I'll wait and see how he plays - when we traded Newsome away for Campbell I thought it was going to be a wash, but Campbell exceeded my expectations. With that said - he's graded as one of the poorer performing OL in the NFL so all the hype I see focussing solely on how many sacks he allowed seems more koolaid than reality. Especially if we are paying him top 15-18 tackle money. We'll see. Being healthy and available would make him an upgrade to what we had in 2024 so that's a plus.
What I see is a guy that has started every NFL game he wasn't injured over a 7 year career with the same team, including 32 games the past two seasons. Despite the PFF talking head grades, the one thing that is really measurable is number of plays and how clean was your QB. How much he factored into a 3.9 ypc carry is a hell of a lot more difficult to measure.
Browns rushing over the last two years 2025 97 yards/gm, 2024 94 yds/gm. The line sucked, but it was an even bigger indicator that the team was playing from behind and they were passing way too much.
Texans rushing yards per game? 2025 109 and 2024 117, so hell, by this assessment, he is going to improve the run game also. I know that's not true, but come one, neither does saying this guy sucks because he was taken from one of the worst lines in the NFL.
At the end of the day, we all know the Browns line has performed horribly since Callahan left. Despite that, Bitonio is still one of the better guards in the NFL, he doesn't suck because the rest of the line did.
We have a major positive to talk about the new RT for the Browns, he doesn't get the QBs jersey dirty. Isn't that a great thing when we are trying to develop a young QB with a penchant for holding the ball too long?
It isn't Koolaid, it is a mere fact that was shared with the group, he doesn't give up sacks. Let's focus on the more depressing fact... We are 1 down and 4 to go to having a full line come opening day. Whether Bitonio fills one of those spots is still in the air, so there is a lot of work to do. It has to start somewhere and you aren't going to get All Pro players in every spot, let's fall back to earth.
