For the Browns, plucking veteran tackle Thayer Munford Jr. off the Patriots‘ practice squad back in September was a necessary move after the season-ending injury in Week 3 to tackle Dawand Jones. Munford had some history in the NFL, going back to his days a seventh-round draft pick out of Ohio State and an 18-game starter for the Raiders from 2022-24. The Browns kept their eye on Munford after training camp when the Patriots moved him to the practice squad.
Now, the Patriots have returned the favor. The Browns put Munford onto the practice squad last month, and in doing so, left him eligible to be poached by another team looking for 53-man roster help.
After Sunday, which saw the Patriots lose starting left tackle Will Campbell to a knee injury, New England reversed the Browns’ move and signed Munford off the Cleveland practice squad, though he did not appear in a game with the Browns.
Jones had bounced between left tackle and right tackle. Cleveland has Cam Robinson and Jack Conklin as the starters at tackle, with KT Leveston and Cornelius Lucas as the reserves.
Browns Draft Did Not Address Huge Problem
Two of the lingering themes of this season in Cleveland have been the way the team has handled the quarterback situation between Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, as well as the promising performances the Browns have gotten from the other rookies brought in outside of Sanders and Gabriel. Both are valid topics.
But both of those situations also trickle back to what Browns GM Andrew Berry did in the offseason at offensive line, a unit that had some good days in the past, but is old, immobile and universally headed to free agency. The Browns did nothing to address that problem in the draft–they picked two defensive players, two quarterbacks, two running backs and a tight end.
They did nothing to seriously address it in free agency, either–which is a difficult way to build on the line, anyway. If the Browns were hoping to move toward one of their two rookie quarterbacks eventually here in 2025, the question is still pertinent: Why did they do so little to protect those quarterbacks up front?
GettyBrowns GM Andrew Berry
Cleveland Offensive Line Ranks No. 30
It’s an underrated topic among the talking heads who have turned this Browns season into a Shedeur Sanders, will-they-or-won’t-they drama. The offensive line is ranked No. 30 at Pro Football Focus and that is (checks notes) out of 32 teams.
As PFF noted: “Veteran right guard Wyatt Teller is having a rough season, especially by his standards. The Virginia Tech alumnus has allowed pressure on 5.6% of pass plays this year — the worst rate of his career.
“Veteran left tackle Cam Robinson is struggling in pass protection, having let up pressure on 10.4% of pass plays since coming over from the Texans ahead of Week 5, which is the fourth-worst rate among left tackles over that span.”
All that is bad, of course. But the worst part is that the Browns have only two players–Luke Wypler and Zak Zinter–who are reasonably young (both are 24) and could potentially take starting spots going forward.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Browns Have Ex-Starter Poached by AFC Contender in Week 13 appeared first on Heavy Sports.