Thomas, Rogers key players in Browns rebuild

By Aaron Ziraks
NoLogoNeeded.com Staff Writer

Wednesday was quite a day for the Cleveland Browns. They finally have moved a few more steps closer to becoming the 2008 Jets. I'll get to that later.

I'm thankful to be a Cleveland Browns fan for two simple words: Joe Thomas.

For those who watched Monday Night Football you know where I am going. I realize there are different schemes on a defense and different players are blocked by different guys all the time. More often than not the right defensive end is matched up with the left offensive tackle, especially during passing situations.

That brings me to Jared Allen. He had 4.5 sacks, 6 tackles and a forced fumble in the Minnesota Vikings 30-20 win against Green Bay. Allen was an absolute nightmare and made Aaron Rodgers' night a living hell. Allen has a motor that just won't quit and is a perennial Pro Bowler because he plays like a superstar against everyone.

Except Joe Thomas. In four games, Allen has 6.5 sacks, but was shutout in the season opener against the Browns.

I realize I am biased, but I urge anyone to find me a better left tackle in the game. There are certainly players that you can make arguments for, but that goes the same for Thomas. He is a franchise left tackle and one of the two great things Phil Savage did in his tenure.

Shaun Rogers is the other one.

Rogers is simply unblockable. When the 3-4 defense was invented, they envisioned a guy like Shaun Rogers playing nose tackle. Huge, quick, aggressive and has the drive to go with it. How many guys take field goals and extra points off? Not Rogers.

I am going somewhere with this. The two players — Thomas and Rogers — are franchise players.

Thomas is young, but Rogers has nine years under his belt. It scares me to think when the Browns are finally done rebuilding, Thomas will have gone to greener pastures via free agency and Rogers will not have much left in the tank. Or even worse ... get traded.

I bring this up because of the Edwards deal. Don't get me wrong, I love this deal. The Browns were not going to sign him after the season. At least the Browns got something for him.

Now, the word talent has been tossed around here at No Logo Needed quite a bit in the past week. Love him or hate him, Edwards has talent. Winslow has talent. Shaun Smith has ... well, not so much, but you get my point. The Browns are trading away commodities and I feel like I am watching the Indians all over again.

Mangini knows the Browns are a couple of years away from being a winner. What if after a couple of years the team still isn't there. What if the Browns are middle of the pack? Will he break it down again and start over?

The Browns don't have much to build around, but Rogers and Thomas are good starting points. I understand that Mangini is getting rid of the guys that he didn't feel bought into his philosophy. When your rebuilding the way the Browns are you have to wonder how far he is willing to go.

There is no secret to rebuild in the NFL you have stock pile draft picks. It would be like having a garage sale and selling everything you wanted to sell. Then, to see what people would offer, you present a few items you'd still like to keep. Rogers for a first and a third? Hmm... let me sleep on that. 

I'm not saying Mangini will do this, but I'm not confident he won't. At this point the two players on the Browns that would yield the most return would be Thomas and Rogers. 

At the very least the Browns need to keep Thomas for a couple more years. By then, Don's wife may come around on the Joseph Thomas Delco baby name.

  October 08, 2009 at 8:26 AM

Comments

For the sake of education - I understand the ability to build a Defense around a NT, but how does one build an offense around the LT? While the defenses seem to me to more integrated units, I get the impression that with the exception of the O-Line, the offenses are about 3-4 different parts: O-line, QB, RBs, and Receivers (TEs fitting in wherever).

  October 08, 2009 at 11:49 AM by DCBacker

Joe is a godsend to us. He'll anchor our line for years to come. Steinbach is also great on the left side. Alex Mack may or may not come around, but we should have those 3 positions figured out for the moment. Other 2 positions on the right side, we need better guys. Seriously though, the only sack that Joe Thomas gave up was the one that DA ran right into.

Rogers is simply a beast, unblockable, and relentless even in this season of turmoil. He's the only one on defense with heart at this point.

Josh Cribbs is also a franchise player. As you know it's hard to utilize him in the offense because of his stature, but he always keeps us in the game with big returns, and really needs to be more involved. Without him giving us the field position, we wouldn't be in the Cinci game last week.

Those three should be annoited the team captains, nobody else. They should have their own luxury suite by the field, with full amenities, separate from the rest of the scrubs on the team (until they prove they're worthy)

  October 08, 2009 at 1:05 PM by Tom

@ DCBacker,
your points are valid, but what good do it do to have a franchise QB who never has time to throw the ball? Ask Tim Couch what he thinks of the matter.

  October 08, 2009 at 2:26 PM by Bryon

@ Bryon,
I'm totally with the O-Line being the start of any good offense, and recognize that without one you can't have a good QB or RB. But while with a solid NT you can then gameplan other positions and build a defense, I don't understand how an offense can be built around a really good LT. As far as I can see, you can build a good offense behind a solid O-Line, but you need other stud players on that offense - and when you have a stud RB or QB, then I would say you can build around them.

  October 08, 2009 at 2:34 PM by DCBacker

@DCBacker

If you are a GM and you need to need to build an offensive line from scratch, what do you do? You build the line by starting with the Left Tackle that is going to protect your quarterbacks blind side. Left tackle is the hardest position to play on the line and therefore the most difficult find in a draft. You don't see many centers or guards going in the top 5 in the draft.

  October 08, 2009 at 10:20 PM by Z

@DCBacker,
good follow up points. I'll give an example to support your claims: John St. Clair. While JT is fantastic, he couldn't do anything to help St. Clair against the Broncos.

  October 08, 2009 at 8:24 AM by Bryon

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