The Cleveland Browns struggled mightily last season.
A lot of that had to do with Deshaun Watson’s never-ending free-fall, but to be fair, he wasn’t put in a position to succeed either.
Moving on from offensive line guru Bill Callahan took a toll on the unit, and so did the injuries.
Even so, now that they’ve hired Mike Bloomgren as their new offensive line coach and the players are back to full strength, team insider Tony Grossi believes they could go back to having one of the best lines in the game:
“The hiring of line coach Mike Bloomgren means the Browns are returning to the zone-blocking scheme instituted by former line coach Bill Callahan, who recommended Bloomgren for the job. For that reason, I think the offensive line could return to be the strongest position group on the team – as long as tackles Dawand Jones and [Jack] Conklin can stay healthy,” Grossi wrote.
The Browns clearly feel the same way.
Otherwise, they would’ve tried to do something to bolster one of their worst units from last season.
Health will be of the utmost importance for the offensive line.
They’re aging, and they don’t have much depth there.
That was never an issue during the Callahan era, as the veteran coach was a master of making the most out of every single player there.
The Browns will now return to running Kevin Stefanski’s version of the West Coast offense, and having a strong line will be crucial to establishing the running game.
That’s especially true if a first-year quarterback also takes over the offense at some point in the season.
Still, even if the Browns’ offensive line returns to its dominant ways this season, they will have to add more youth to that unit in the 2026 NFL Draft.
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