Cleveland Browns: Who Is The One Player That Must Stay?
By Ryan Rosko
Cleveland Browns Offensive Line In General
Ric McElroy
The Cleveland Browns have a few free agents and of course there is the possibility of losing center Alex Mack through a loophole in his contract. There is really nothing they can do as its up to Mack to stay or go as he chooses. However, their next biggest free agent that they can do something about is right tackle Mitchell Schwartz.
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Surprisingly, Mack is rated better than most fans think by other teams who would love to have him. As much as some have criticized him, he has turned into a very serviceable and better than average right tackle.
It would cost a high draft choice to replace him or another free agent. There is no one on this team as it is presently made up, who could replace him as offensive lineman Cameron Erving has proven with his poor performances.
Joe Russo
Ric is absolutely right. We all know how important Mack and left tackle Joe Thomas are, so they need to stay even if the analytics don’t see them as the difference makers — the eye test does. But Schwartz has developed into a very good right tackle that was rated very highly among both talent evaluators and current analytics folks like Pro Football Focus.
Losing a good offensive lineman takes more time and resources to replace than just keeping him on the roster. It is much more of an opportunity cost conversation at this point.
Next: The Leader Of The Offensive Line
Who would the Browns miss out on drafting or acquiring if they have to fill another void that could have been prevented in the first place?