DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Offensive line predictions

This hasn't been posted yet, but Tyler Loos, a guy I thought had a sneaky shot to make the roster or at least the practice squad was put on the retired reserve list today. Since I was looking at the depth chart after that announcement anyway I thought I'd make a few predictions before camp starts.

Okay first the 3 sure things
LT- Thomas
LG- Bitonio
C- Mack

This is the best Left side in football and nothing else needs to be said here.

RG- The possibilities are Greco, Schwartz, Erving. I think Erving gets the nod here and I'll Explain Below.

RT- The possibilities. Schwartz, Erving, Bowie. This may surprise some people but I am going with Bowie and I'll explain below.

First I believe that Erving will be thrown into the line-up somewhere because the Browns need to see what they have in him in case Mack decides he doesn't want to stay next year. Also he is too talented of a player not to start somewhere.He has initially been placed at RG and I think he would be a better RG than a RT so I am putting him here as well. Don't get me wrong, I think he can be a really good RT, but I think he could be a Pro-Bowl RG.

Bowie is still under the radar of most people, but we kinda stole him from Seattle last year when he got hurt and they tried to sneak him through waivers. He was one of their better lineman even as a rookie and would have been noticed by more teams if he hadn't got hurt so early. He has the kick-step of a starting Left tackle in the NFL. The only knock on him is he tends to lean into blocks and can get caught off balance by power rushers. He is extremely athletic and his flaws are coach-able.

Okay that's the starting 5 now the reserves...

Greco- They are teaching him to play all positions this year.

Schwartz- Will fill in at RG and RT. If somebody else comes out of nowhere, he could be cut, but given he's on the last year of a cheap contract I don't see that happening.

If we keep 7 it's a pretty good sign that our 2 reserves were 2 starters last year.

If we keep 8, The 8th spot is probably a toss-up between Vincent Painter and Eric Olsen I think Olsen has more talent, but Painter can play LT and may be kept because of that.

I think Ryan Seymour is gone. He was serviceable but there are too many young guys that can do what he can.

I had thought that Tyler Loos might end up at least on the practice squad, but now that he retired I don't think any other o-lineman will.

Just my humble opinion, but I think we will have a much better and deeper o-line this year.

Thomas, bitonio, Mack, Greco, Schwartz


Erving as the sliding backup then replaces Mack

I'm hoping that Bowie beats out Schwartz convincingly and then Erving can beat out John Greco.

My guess though, is that the same five from last year are starting.

Which kind of sucks, because so does Mitchell Schwartz.

My guess is the starting 5 will turn out the way the team is basically telling us it will turn out...

Starter, Backup, Alternate Position

LT: Thomas / Miller
LG: Bitonio / Greco
C: Mack / Erving / Seymour
RG: Erving / Greco
RT: Schwartz / Bowie

This is my guess as well.

I agree with everything but RG. Greco won't be a push over and let Erving takes his spot. I am hoping the same at RT with Bowie and Schwartz. No matter what whoever starts on the right side will definitely earned it.

Figured this should go here.....

Loos Retiring?

Just a few days after we featured him in our training camp preview for the Cleveland Browns' offensive line, rookie Tyler Loos appears to have retired.

Loos was placed on the team's reserve-retired list last week, but the news went a bit under the radar. The Browns' roster now sits at 89 players, meaning they will be adding a player in the next couple of weeks leading up to training camp.

In terms of players on the back-end of the roster, fans were pretty intrigued to see what Loos had to offer, as he garnered the highest amount of support in a poll that featured himself, Darrian Miller, Andrew McDonald, and Karim Barton. There is no word on what the undrafted free agent out of Northern Illinois plans to pursue in lieu of the NFL, but his college profile listed him as a finance major.

I like Miller, I think he's a good player and was stoked we were able to snag him in UDFA.

I suppose you mean "in the modern era." Lou Groza was pretty good.

But you make a good point. There really isn't. However, how many good UDFA CBs, RBs, and WRs had we had before last year?

O'Hara was a UDFA.

Frank Gatsky and Billy Willis were UDFA's in 1945 and 1946 and both wound up being Hall of Famers.

Barring heinous injuries I see us having the best oline in football. JT and Mack are still in their prime while Bitonio ranked better than Zach Martin last year. Greco also ranked highly in PFF rankings and the coaches have backed Schwartz repeatedly, especially Pett.

Erving is going to have to earn his way into the starting lineup while Bowie will have to be pretty good to supplant Schwartz. I see Erving competing mainly with Greco while also getting reps at each of the positions during camp. Greco may also be moved around, because whoever doesn't wins the starting job will be the swingman -- which is something that we have this year as insurance in the case of a huge injury to one of the starters.

This oline should be the best we have seen in Cleveland in a long, long time, while also being a driving force for McCown having a career year and the running game being one of the league's best. Along with the defense, both lines should be the strong point of the team.

So Loos decided to retire? That's odd, but it might be a good thing ...

I was fearing the final roster spot would come down to a Wynn/Loos situation

I see what you did there.

I think we'll be up there but Dallas has a pretty good line too. The most compelling story lines are on the right side of the line as C, LG, LT are already accounted for.

I ilke Greco a lot. It clearly was a good trade by Heckert to get him for a 7th rounder. But I really like what I see out of Erving. If Mack leaves, plug Erving at Center and put Greco back at guard in 2016. Interesting thing to note from spottrac.. Greco is due close to $3M this year but that drops to just under $1M for the following two years. Not sure exactly what incentive are in play with his contract (rumors of starting incentive increases) but it makes no sense to let him go for the duration of his contract thought 2017 (not that anyone is suggesting that).

Schwartz will be a FA at the end of this year. Middle of the road RT to most, slightly higher to me. Interested to see all this talk about Bowie. If he works out, and is better than Schwartz, he'll probably be cheaper as we'd let Schwartz walk.

Tons of interesting stories on the right side of the line.

Agreed that the right side will be interesting. Greco's contract does come down big time next year, although I have seen some straw graspers suggesting he could be a cap casualty this year lol. I like Schwartz better than most and I think they may try to keep him around depending on what he demands. Difference between he and Bowie at this point is he is proven, and solid vet right tackles aren't just growing on trees.

Not understanding why so many are assuming Mack walks. He has said repeatedly he would like to see this through, and with the team looking like they are finally ready to turn the corner, seems to me like he would want to be here for that.

Many are looking at the line in a vacuum IMO. Farmer and Pett's staff (Moeller is a pretty solid coach and cousin's with a good buddy of mine here in Cbus) are seriously building from the inside out. They saw first hand last year what a devastating injury to a Pro Bowler can do, especially at center. I realize there are cap ramifications for paying everybody, but I can see them doing their best to keep this core together for as long as possible and maintain serious depth.

Mack got a standing ovation and a bench full of players coming to his side last year when he got carted off against Pittspuke. I can't believe that won't resonate with him come time for extension talk and a few bucks difference -- if that is the case between our offer and others.

The way this oline is currently configured (and assuming Erving lives up to potential and Bowie is as advertised), the Browns can be set for years to come if they play this right. Starting a winning culture should help also.

j/c:

Nice thread topic by the OP.

I have a real issue w/how so many people are underrating Grecco. The guy was our very best O-lineman for most of the year. I sometimes wonder what you guys are watching.

I say we rest the whole starting offensive line for half the season, or until we get into playoff contention. Use 5 of our 343 defensive lineman to play offensive line.

This way we can save the OL starters from injury and use the 343 defensive lineman "Text" drafted for something other than sitting on the bench.

Use one of the 343 defensive lineman as our number 1 WR. Anything that can move would be better than BooWIE and Heartbreak.

And use Shelton in double duty as the starting QB and DL. That would definitely be an improvement over McClown and JFF.

Imagine Shelton lofting a 99 yard bomb to one of our other 343 other defensive lineman. SPECTACULAR!!!!!

P.S.
This has been "Text's" strategy all along right?...

Did you just "like" your own post again?

He does that ...... a lot.

Well, at least several times, anyway.

I agree with you on this. I think that Greco is an outstanding Guard, and was probably one of the top Guards (upper 10) in the NFL last year.

Yeah, Grecco was our best run blocker last year. Good eyes by you on that one.

And the liking your own post thing???? That should be illegal.

Please note how the thread topic is "predictions" and not "preferences." Given that the OC said Erving will open camp with RG as his primary position, it's not a big leap to pencil him in as a likely starter.

Good point about Greco. He is a quality football player that provides us with flexibility along with Erving, who can play both tackle spots also. Greco can play center along with both guard spots.

If we would have had at least one other competent interior lineman last year, I think they would have let Greco man the center spot. They wanted to keep as much continuity as possible and just replace center, but it didn't work out because they didn't have a serviceable backup.

This year they are protected against major injury unless it gets ridiculous. Thankfully Joe has never went down, but if he were to now at least we would have an athlete of Erving's skillset to fill his slot and not miss a beat anywhere else. They are insured this season, which is huge.

I would disagree that Greco was our best run blocker last year. He was pretty damn good, but both Mack and Bitonio were better. Thomas looked like a much better run blocker last year too. I think the zone blocking is a better fit for him. I think it was on Football Outsiders where I saw 49% of our run plays were ran between the guards last year. That is pretty telling. We are trending back to smash mouth football. If we can run and stop the run, we can win games with Betty White at QB.

O'Hara was an UDFA, If I am not mistaken. (and I am about 95.897346598756432% sure of it)

O'Hara was definitely an UDFA out of Rutgers. Our best lineman STR until we drafted JT and we let him walk to the Giants.

Totally typical of how poorly run our organization was. All those high priced FAs and we let a guy walk for a little over a million a year.

j/c

O'Hara is the kind of guy that makes me hope we have excellent talent evaluators for the O line.

We let him go after three years...five years later he was a pro bowler and a SB champ.

Some of these guys just take awhile longer to get it.

If memory serves,O'hara was miscast as a guard here,and quite frankly wasn't that good.
He went to the Giants and to center,and to the pro bowl.

I remember him being pretty good. Unheralded, but solid and versatile.

I remember him taking a lot of grief on the boards. He played during the Couch years and Timid held the ball way too long and the OL was often unfairly lambasted.

After what I went thru the past year,I'm satisfied to recall my own name each mourning.
If you say he was good,then I can't argue.But then again you didn't actually say he was good.
I contend he was a so-so guard,but an above avg.center.Of coarse he played guard for us and center for the G-men.

I agree w/you that he was a better center than guard. No doubt.

SuperBrown - All this anger and sarcasm .... and the season hasn't even started yet! If I were you I'd go to the doctors and get a prescription for something to take that edge off, something like Valium, Klonopin, Ativan...(Browns fans really should be offered a discount price on drugs like this and all antidepressant medications.) This way if and when we have yet another one of our 4, 5, or 6 win seasons you will already be prepared and properly sedated.

Okay, sorry folks. Back to the offensive line predictions...

j/c

I believe we'll see Erving take over Greco's position. Not that I feel Greco is the weak link in the chain, but Erving is a great talent and this FO can't go another season without their two first round picks in the line up. They have to produce well after last years debacle. Everyone else will stay where they are.

Sarcasm yes.
Anger no.
Desperation yes.

Had to dig deep for this thread, but exactly what I was looking for!

Guys, has anyone else noticed improvement in our RT? I think Mitchell is playing at a very high level thus far this year. When I've been watching him, he's been totally sealing off that edge for the most part. He looks like he's getting off the line a little quicker and his movement is just a little faster. Did he lose a bunch of weight or something?

Curious if anyone feels the same, or am I just coincidentally tuning into him on only the plays he's doing really good on?