Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry had a daunting task ahead of him entering this offseason, with the potential of losing his entire starting offensive line. Despite not having a ton of cap space, he was able to get creative and bring in what looks to be a new, young, and formidable five-man unit that could be an improvement over the previous O-line core if the new guys can gel quickly.
Of course, there is no great OL without a great OL coach, which is exactly what George Warhop is. Warhop took his first job as an offensive line coach at the University of Kansas way back in 1984 and has been in the same role for various teams around the NFL since 1996, which includes a previous four-year stint as Cleveland’s OL coach from 2009-13.
He comes back to Cleveland alongside new head coach Todd Monken after spending the past two years as the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive line coach, which Scott Petrak stressed the importance of during a recent episode of Sports4CLE. Petrak believes the stability and experience of Warhop will be imperative now that there are five new starters up front and a pair of rookies who need to lean on someone like him.
“When they made [the George Warhop] hire, I thought that was really important. Number one, the turnover across the front five—there could be five new starters. Number two, the young guys. Fano, the chance that Parker Brailsford starts at center. I think the combination of those two variables, it’s important to have a big-time, established, veteran line coach like you have in Warhop. I expect this line to take a jump. Warhop’s not going to be the reason it doesn’t take a jump,” Petrak said.
You won’t find many coaches with more experience than Warhop, and between him and Monken, this Browns offense, which has struggled mightily over the past few years, will have a couple of coaches with nearly 80 years of coaching experience guiding them. You couldn’t ask for a better staff for No. 9 pick Spencer Fano and all the free agents to have at their disposal.
If Joe Thomas is a fan of what is being built, then you know Andrew Berry did a good job. Fano won’t be tasked with being the next Thomas right away, but the team has struggled to fill that left tackle spot ever since Thomas retired. Fano is more than capable of holding it down for a decade or more and making Thomas proud.
There are still a few moving parts that need to be settled, such as whether or not Brailsford can win the center job from Elgton Jenkins, but once the dust settles, this should be a much-improved offensive line compared to last year.
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