That means Thomas and Mack represent 10 of the 24 Pro Bowl appearances among current Browns and 10 of 12 on offense. Those other two offensive Pro Bowlers have yet to catch a pass this whole season. Among the other eight, Whitner, Williams, Starks, and Bowe are past their peak and will likely not see a Pro Bowl again.
Travis Benjamin and Gary Barnidge are making their case for a Pro Bowl this year but both are free agents and neither seems like a yearly candidate to make it going forward. Among the other Pro Bowlers remaining, Gipson is a free agent, Josh Gordon is a giant question mark, and that leaves you with Haden and Lee.
You don’t build a team around a corner or a punter so where does that leave you? When you end up with a top five pick there are certain players you have to consider because they are your cornerstone positions. Those are QBs, LTs, WRs, DEs, DTs, and OLBs. The Browns have one in Joe Thomas so depleting that would leave them with nobody to build around figuring there are no Pro Bowler quality players at the other five positions.
I know Thomas hasn’t played to the same level this year but he is still a top ten LT. You don’t find those guys make it out to free agency and so you leave yourself with the dilemma of trading him for maybe a third round pick and now wasting your first pick on a franchise QB with no LT or your first pick on a brand new LT hoping he becomes that Pro Bowler that we have not seen in anyone the last 16 seasons other than Joe.
Or I can put this in another way. Would you trade Joe Thomas for Duke Johnson, Xavier Cooper, Christian Kirksey, Terrance West, Leon McFadden, or John Hughes? The answer is simply no. My gut says it would be much better to keep him and use that pick on a need and not force another need by trading him away and getting a player far inferior to him.
Looking at next year, the cornerstones of this team could be Thomas, Mack, Gordon, and Haden. If Josh Gordon messes up and Mack leaves as most expect then you are left with Thomas and Haden. For a team that hasn’t won more than five games the last five years that is unacceptable.
With nine picks in the first four rounds the last two years we have three starters and two guys not even on the team. For a team that is consistently at the bottom of the NFL, it is inexcusable to not be able to find starters to make your team better. The last three Browns top ten picks have been Trent Richardson (traded up to 3rd), Barkevious Mingo (6th), and Justin Gilbert (traded up to 8th). Yuck. These should be your cornerstone guys and my gut instead says none of them will be on the roster next year not even five years after being top ten picks.
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