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The Cleveland Browns are grappling with a dichotomy on the offensive line, where the inside presence is among the league’s elite and the outside is as flawed as that of almost any quality team in the NFL.
Unfortunately for Cleveland, its depth in the unit is also assigned to its area of strength, which creates a redundancy in second-year center Luke Wypler — a sixth-round pick in 2023 out of Ohio State.
Ryan Fowler of Bleacher Report on Wednesday, August 14, suggested that Cleveland should shop Wypler on the trade market ahead of the regular season, which begins for the Browns on September 8 against the Dallas Cowboys.
“[On] an offensive line that remains one of the most talented in the sport, Wypler, who earned 57 snaps last fall, could be viewed as a valuable trade asset rather than a necessity for the current roster,” Fowler wrote. “Considering starting center Ethan Pocic is still just 29 years old, and guards Wyatt Teller and Joel Bitonio remain two of the best in the league at their positions, snaps look hard to come by for Wypler.”
Browns Boast Durable Pro Bowlers on Interior of Offensive Line
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GettyOffensive guard Joel Bitonio of the Cleveland Browns.
Bitonio has been a Pro Bowler in each of the past six seasons, while Teller has three consecutive Pro Bowl nods on his resumé. Beyond that, neither player really misses games. Both men have played all but two regular-season contests over the past three years.
Pocic has also been relatively healthy since joining the Browns in 2022. He missed four games his first season and two in his second campaign.
All three of Cleveland’s starting interior offensive linemen ranked among the top 20 at their respective positions in 2023, according to the advanced metrics developed by Pro Football Focus (PFF). As such, Fowler’s points that the Browns are excellent inside and that Wypler may not have much of an immediate future there stand up to scrutiny.
That said, the Browns listed Wypler as the second-string center on their most recent unofficial preseason depth chart and had no third-string player on the roster as of Wednesday. Were anything to happen to Pocic, the center position could quickly grow dicey.
But if Cleveland believes it can find real value for Wypler in a trade — perhaps in the form of a 2025 draft pick in the same range that the Browns selected Wypler (No. 190 overall) — one can make a reasonable case for shipping the 23-year-old lineman elsewhere and replacing him with bargain bin free agent who may not see many regular-season snaps in 2024.
Browns Need Depth, Talent at Offensive Tackle Position
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GettyOffensive tackle Dawand Jones of the Cleveland Browns.
Perhaps a better outcome would be trading with a team for a young, superfluous project at offensive tackle, assuming that organization is in more desperate and/or immediate need of an interior presence like Wypler. Because while the Browns were excellent inside last season, their problems on the outside of the offensive line were almost equally as great.
Jack Conklin is the starting right tackle, but injuries have robbed him of all but 22 games over the past three seasons, including all but one contest last year. Fourth-round rookie Dawand Jones filled in admirably for Conklin given the learning curve, but he was still a slightly below-average tackle based on PFF’s analysis and ended up suffering a season-ending knee injury of his own late in the year.
Starting left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. missed nine of 17 games last season due to injury and was one of the worst players at his position among those who saw enough snaps to qualify.
The Browns don’t have much real depth at tackle beyond the top three, and if Cleveland could turn Wypler into some injury insurance on the outside, the team should at least consider it.
