PFF: Offensive Line Ranked 2nd for 2017

Sober Poet

Haven't fully digested this article yet myself, but enjoy!

Offensive Line Ranked 2nd for 2017

Analytics website Pro Football Focus ranked the Cleveland Browns offensive line as the second best overall unit heading into the 2017 NFL season.

We know the Browns have a lot invested in their offensive line, and we’re not just talking about draft picks anymore. After losing star center Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz to free agency last year, this offseason Sashi Brown properly prioritized his team’s offensive line.

Brown handed out a lucrative contract to former Cincinnati Bengals guard Kevin Zeitler, threw some decent cash at ex-Packers center J.C. Tretter, and inked Browns’ own Joel Bitonio to an enormous extension.

His team is being rewarded for its rebuilding efforts in the trenches, at least according to common sense, and also this blurb from Pro Football Focus’ ranking of all 32 offensive lines.

The offseason free agent spending spree could pay off huge dividends in Cleveland. J.C. Tretter and Kevin Zeitler both bring well above-average grades from a season ago at center and guard, respectively. The only question mark comes at right tackle where Shon Coleman looked at least competent in his 62 snaps as a rookie.

Here’s a depiction of each projecting starting Browns lineman’s player rating by the site, from one of its Twitter posts in mid-June:

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Will this be the best offensive line in football in 2017?

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While Shon Coleman is penciled is as the presumed starter in this scenario, there’ll still be a training camp battle for that spot. Third-year man Cam Erving could bring lessons learned from his early career struggles and push Coleman for the job, or he could fall into a valuable backup role. Either way, the team’s weakest presumed link will at least be a position of contention, which will hopefully result in better play overall from whoever wins the competition.

In case you’re wondering, here’s a look at how the AFC North finished in the rankings. Note the changes in ranking from before the 2016 season, after it, and now.

PFF AFC North O-Line Rankings, June 2017 Team 2017 Preseason Post-2016 Pre-2016 Ovr. Change Browns 2 16 21 19 Steelers 3 3 14 11 Ravens 23 9 13 -10 Bengals 31 13 4 -27 PFF O-Line Rankings from 2016-17

The Bengals and Ravens have been up and down in these rankings due to personnel moves and declining play, while the Browns somewhat unsurprisingly made the biggest jump in the last 12 months. Remember, the Browns fell to No. 21 in 2016 preseason rankings after losing Mack and Schwartz. Then the group outplayed PFF’s projection to finish the season at No. 16. With their offseason additions and Bitonio returning, they’re back to an elite group in PFF’s eyes, good enough for the second best spot on their 2017 preseason list.

It’s important to note that while the Browns are getting recognition for having “won” the offseason by bolstering their offensive line, the unit still needs to show what it can do together on the field, and then stay healthy for any of it to matter. Offensive lines are sometimes only as good as their weakest parts, only as good as the guys who stay healthy and only as good as the guy making the calls for the group.

Can Tretter be the general for this year’s line like what Mack was in years past? Will Bitonio and Tretter play all 16 games? Will Joe Thomas begin to decline?

There is clear optimism for them heading into 2017, but there are a number of questions needing answered before we see this group’s post-2017 ranking reflect anywhere close to this projection.

Comeonman

Bunch of fatass dime a dozen lineman. Saved you some time Ghools.

The Gipper

So....here is a debate....is it better to have a golden boy QB....ala Andrew Luck....and to have a shit OL in front of him? (Indy ranked #22)....or to have a stolid OL...and have a mediocre QB behind them?

Luck has been on the shelf a lot due to injury....because he gets piss poor protection. The Browns may have a good OL...but who the fuck is going to play QB decently?

Tour2ma

Talent is there, but it needs to gel...

Clevfan4life

Love these preseason ranking before a single down of football has been played. Utterly worthless till we see the first primary edge rusher greenlighted into kesslers nuts when we can then confirm PFF is still handing out baggies of coke to its analysts

choco

Can't win without competent OL play, can't win without a QB. So neither is better in the end.

I suppose a few teams have won with a great team and mediocre QB, but it's few and far between. Was dilfer even mediocre? Even Hall of Fame QBs can't win without a decent team around them, so I'll take a great OL for my money.

Orion

I'll save Ghoul a post.

Without good offensive skill players, a good OL is like putting a sweet sounding Corvette exhaust system in a Prius.

Having said that...fixing the OL was something that 'could' be done...so, why not do it?

Having a lousy player or two on the OL inhibits the ability of the skill players to produce.

gumby73

It's not about what you can put on paper.Paper starts dumpster fires. It's about what performance shows up on the field as a unit.Than what OL depth is behind that. Pound the damn rock with a defense that allows us to hang around on scoreboard. oops (damn it's still june)

choco

@orion said:

I'll save Ghoul a post.

Without good offensive skill players, a good OL is like putting a sweet sounding Corvette exhaust system in a Prius.

Having said that...fixing the OL was something that 'could' be done...so, why not do it?

Having a lousy player or two on the OL inhibits the ability of the skill players to produce.

conversely, having a crap OL is like having a sweet Corvette with a knocking rod.

Ibleedbrown

@choco said:
conversely, having a crap OL is like having a sweet Corvette with a knocking rod.

I got a knocking rod.

calfoxwc

again, I say the offensive line is the engine of the car. Every other part depends on it to go.

Clevfan4life

A good qb can in theory mitigate an awful o line, but we're talking peyton manning pre snap skills. A good o line can make an awful qb serviceable. Any nfl qb given long enough time for routes to develop will do ok

D Bone

Damnit..... PFF ranks us high - the kiss of death.

Mudfly

I dont buy into this whole PFF OL ranking thing, as it is not a true rating of the "line as a unit".....and is instead a math equation of the individual rating for each player.....and it does not account for a massive hole at RT.....which, as we learned last season with the center position, can nullify good line play from others(including HOFers)......also, PFF scores are cumulative and tend to go down as the season progresses....yet, they give Tretter a high rating for playing only 7 games......(which isnt a legitimate score, sorry_

So.....no score for RT and a slanted score at center and still ranked #2?.....ridunkulous

Heres an example.....you could have 5 players, each with a PFF score of 70.....making your line rating 350 pts

or....you could have 2 guys at 90, 2 guys at 50.....and 1 at 60....getting the same 350 pts.....

So, which is better.....the one with 5 equally rated "average players"....or the one with 2 stars and 3 dogs...?

Mr. Make-Believe

@ibleedbrown said:
I got a knocking rod.

LOL!

Mr. Make-Believe

@the-gipper said:

So....here is a debate....is it better to have a golden boy QB....ala Andrew Luck....and to have a shit OL in front of him? (Indy ranked #22)....or to have a stolid OL...and have a mediocre QB behind them?

Luck has been on the shelf a lot due to injury....because he gets piss poor protection. The Browns may have a good OL...but who the fuck is going to play QB decently?

Much better to have Andrew Luck and a crappy offensive line, than to have the circus rotation of rejects the Browns have had at QB and an awesome O-Line.

Better to have an average QB and a great line than either of these... And better still to have an awesome QB and and an average line.

Clevfan4life

@mr.-make-believe said:

Much better to have Andrew Luck and a crappy offensive line, than to have the circus rotation of rejects the Browns have had at QB and an awesome O-Line.

Better to have an average QB and a great line than either of these... And better still to have an awesome QB and and an average line.

I wonder how muvh our "awful" o lines have ruined what may have been very serviceable qb's. Im not saying we had brady on our team and didnt know it

Mr. Make-Believe

@clevfan4life said:
I wonder how muvh our "awful" o lines have ruined what may have been very serviceable qb's. Im not saying we had brady on our team and didnt know it

We had Couch and I'm pretty sure he would've at least been Andy Dalton caliber with some help around him.

The right way to build a team is to not neglect any area. You don't have to be AWESOME EVERYWHERE, but you need at least okay everywhere and awesome in some respects.

Orion

@gumby73 said:

Pound the damn rock with a defense that allows us to hang around on scoreboard.

Well, if you don't have a competent passing attack then that's what you HAVE to try and do. (which is hard to do when you can't scare anyone that you might throw)

Ibleedbrown

@mudfly said:

I dont buy into this whole PFF OL ranking thing, as it is not a true rating of the "line as a unit".....and is instead a math equation of the individual rating for each player.....and it does not account for a massive hole at RT.....which, as we learned last season with the center position, can nullify good line play from others(including HOFers)......also, PFF scores are cumulative and tend to go down as the season progresses....yet, they give Tretter a high rating for playing only 7 games......(which isnt a legitimate score, sorry_

So.....no score for RT and a slanted score at center and still ranked #2?.....ridunkulous

Heres an example.....you could have 5 players, each with a PFF score of 70.....making your line rating 350 pts

or....you could have 2 guys at 90, 2 guys at 50.....and 1 at 60....getting the same 350 pts.....

So, which is better.....the one with 5 equally rated "average players"....or the one with 2 stars and 3 dogs...?

This sums up my thoughts on the matter in a much more coherent way than l am capable of saying. And Tour's comment ahout how they need to gel.

They gotta work well as a unit, and quite frankly some of them are new to each other. They gotta figure out how to block together, how not to step on each others' feet, and how hard they like a pat on the ass.

it's like Voltron. They might individually be badasses in their own lion robots, but when coming together if they don't know if they are the left leg or the right arm, shit gets fucked up.