@westside-steve said: And Tommy, that doesn't mean they have to be first round picks. Just know what each other is (are?) up to. WSS I hear you and I agree; BUT when the people in charge of our draft haven't able to ever land us Oline starters from anything after round 2 since those 80s and 90s teams I specified - this is where we've been swimming prior to analytics. In order to get to a FA like Eric Steinbach, a previous one had to be a disaster (Joe Andruzzi and the physical he miraculously passed). Was Dr Kevorkian doing our physicals for FAs? Same held true at Center when LeCharles Bentley never survived his first practice (non-contact) - we auditioned about 4-5 guys before we traded for a Philly demoted Hank Fraley (and WOW was that ever a good move for us). That guy was pulling from his Center position at about 32 years of age which was as unique as it was impressive. He also provided invaluable veteran leadership like Steinbach. Both Joe Thomas and Alex Mack made sure they praised Steinbach for how helpful he was to their ideal beginnings. To your point, chemistry and continuity is everything for Guard-Tackle tandems. Joe Thomas has only had 2 good/reliable LGs next to him since he was drafted in 2007. Eric Steinbach and Joel Bitonio. In 2007, we went 10-6 while the Baltimore pronounced dead legs of Jamal Lewis rushed for over 1300 yards and Derek Anderson threw 29 TD passes. In a world of what could be if we ever had the right QB at the right time - 2007 could have been really special if we had a QB destined to be great rather than a career backup. Some will say, yeah but our team in 2009 sucked. We might not have had a QB that could complete a forward pass; but despite the steady dose of 8-9 men in the box - Cleveland finished 8th out of 32 teams rushing the football. Then in 2010, came the 1 year wonder story of Peyton Hillis with 1,177 yards at 4.4 ypc and 8 rushing TDs plus his 61 receptions (mostly swing passes) for another 477 yards. In 2011, Steinbach had season ending back surgery before the regular season began and the drop off was impossible to miss. It's been rent-a-wreck and dial-a-squid ever since until Bitonio showed up in 2014 where we ran the well again. Mitch Schwartz also had the mirror image reliability issue at OG next to him until Greco showed up in the best shape of his career in 2014 for the best season of his career. I read he lost about 29 lbs in the off season conditioning program which was ideal for the zbs scheme he was about to enjoy. Schwartz didn't just wake up a good run blocker all of a sudden. We've always been able to run off tackle and outside right or left. The trouble often came when we wanted to run inside of tackle prior to 2014. Joe Thomas reminds me a lot of Tampa's Paul Gruber back in the day but he's made way more Pro Bowls. Really good Tackle very well respected in this league from the same Big 10 program. Both guys never had a lot of reliability lining up next to them or at QB on rosters often in need of play makers. Consequently, it's been really easy to tell if we've had anyone decent lining up next to either tackle here. Pasztor looks very promising to me. His biggest issue seems to be experience. We should have 60% of our line back starting plus the TE/H-Back that was originally brought here more for his reliability as a blocker. Our 2 new starters, should have some experience starting or filling in as a starter. If we move Bitonio to RT and Pazstor starts at LG, Bitonio might like going against taller/lighter guys than some of the leverage-blessed powerhouses at 340 lbs inside. IMO, our biggest challenge is replacing Center, which we can do via free agency with Wisniewski if still available. I don't think it would kill us to go the free agent route because the rookie salary cap isn't going to bring us anywhere close to the team payroll amount or percentages owners are supposed to pay out. Other options we have is our 1st round draft pick (Erving) or this year's draft or Greco (which opens the RG spot).