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2017 Browns Off Season Thread

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Thomas doesn't rely on his athleticism. He's the most technically sound lineman I've ever seen. I think he is going to age beautifully and the only time I don't think he will be able to play LT anymore is when he's just done altogether and completely on E. can't imagine a time where he is playing in the NFL but can't hack it at LT. he wins his battles through intense preparation and his brain more so than his (admittedly) great athleticism

I think Thomas still has quite a bit of time left before we need to start worrying about his replacement

Didn't really think of it this way. Still could see them draft a young guy capable of playing LT or G for depth purposes.
 
Didn't really think of it this way. Still could see them draft a young guy capable of playing LT or G for depth purposes.

I would be very surprised to see the Browns draft an OL within the first four rounds. They have four high end starters on paper, young depth behind and they have too many other holes in other places.

If Joe Thomas were to get injured, I think they'd try and kick Bitonio out to tackle.
 
I would be very surprised to see the Browns draft an OL within the first four rounds. They have four high end starters on paper, young depth behind and they have too many other holes in other places.

I wouldn't. OL can take longer to develop than any other position except QB, and the way you avoid spending high draft picks/FA's on the OL is to develop solid mid-round guys into starters over the course of a few years.

If they see good value on a young OL -- especially one who projects to tackle -- in the second or third round, I hope they grab him. Maybe not at 33, but anything after that would be fine. I mean, almost half your offensive starters - 5/11 - are OL. With that number of guys, an injury to a starter is pretty much inevitable, and having that pipeline of young guys constantly being replenished is just smart IMO.
 
I wouldn't. OL can take longer to develop than any other position except QB, and the way you avoid spending high draft picks/FA's on the OL is to develop solid mid-round guys into starters over the course of a few years.

If they see good value on a young OL -- especially one who projects to tackle -- in the second or third round, I hope they grab him. Maybe not at 33, but anything after that would be fine. I mean, almost half your offensive starters - 5/11 - are OL. With that number of guys, an injury to a starter is pretty much inevitable, and having that pipeline of young guys constantly being replenished is just smart IMO.

The case could be made that they already did that last year with Shon Coleman and Spencer Drango. Plus you have the still just 24 year old Cam Erving on the bench now too. Still have a quality veteran in John Greco signed for peanuts as depth now as well.

Not to mention all the young centers like Austin Reiter, Marcus Martin, Anthony Fabiano etc etc etc.

OL is the one position where I think the Browns are pretty much set for 2017. Good mix of in prime veterans and young depth IMO.
 
Looks like former GM Dwight Clark has ALS. That's shitty news for sure.

Most people identify him for "The Catch", I still identify him for getting shit out of all of those draft picks that the league gifted the team once they returned. I know the team should have recovered by now, but his ineptitude severely handicapped the team's return.
 
Thomas doesn't rely on his athleticism. He's the most technically sound lineman I've ever seen. I think he is going to age beautifully and the only time I don't think he will be able to play LT anymore is when he's just done altogether and completely on E. can't imagine a time where he is playing in the NFL but can't hack it at LT. he wins his battles through intense preparation and his brain more so than his (admittedly) great athleticism

I think Thomas still has quite a bit of time left before we need to start worrying about his replacement
I completely agree with this.

Joe Thomas is 32 years old and remains the best in the business at what he does. From a technical standpoint, he's among the best to ever play the position--of course he's also a good athlete. However, he's 32--he hasn't been able to "rely on athleticism" for quite some time, and we've seen no decline in his play over the last 5 years. Why is this? As you nailed, his performance is not dependent on athleticism. Due to this, I don't expect him to fall off some kind of cliff and he will ultimately choose when to leave the game at his own accord.

A good friend of his, Andrew Whitworth, is 35 years old and got a 3 year, $33,750,000 contract with the Los Angeles Rams, including a $5,000,000 signing bonus, $15,000,000 guaranteed. AT 35.

I think we have plenty more solid years of Joe; I just hope he wants to stay when his contract is up.
 
I don't think we need to draft Joe's replacement in the sense of his age, but I wonder if we don't make the playoffs before his contract is up, is he going to stay here or head somewhere else?
 
Joe Thomas is Cleveland. He is only leaving if the FO decides to get rid of him, which I have trouble seeing honestly.
 
Boston Bruins fans once said the same thing about Ray Bourque.
 
Why does Joe keep staying in Cleveland?
 
Why does Joe keep staying in Cleveland?

Work doesn't necessitate leaving & he's not very superficial. I'm sure there are some other reasons as well.
 
Looks like former GM Dwight Clark has ALS. That's shitty news for sure.

Most people identify him for "The Catch", I still identify him for getting shit out of all of those draft picks that the league gifted the team once they returned. I know the team should have recovered by now, but his ineptitude severely handicapped the team's return.
Hate to take the high road but... This is bigger than football and his performance as a GM.

ALS is a shit hand to be dealt and I can't imagine the pain he will soon endure. Thoughts and prayers to him.
 
Why does Joe keep staying in Cleveland?

Very Loyal blue collar guy which is perfect for Cleveland, he loves the people and it probably doesn't hurt that we have fantastic walleye fishing.
 

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