BEREA ― There’s a lot of new around the Browns as a whole. The offensive line may be one of the areas where it shows the most.
The entire starting five up front will be different from what it was in 2025. Almost every player among the expected starting five is a newcomer to the Browns roster.
The process for filling those spots, though, has been compounded by a need to pick up a brand-new system. That new system has created a situation in which just about everyone is starting basically from scratch.
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“I think it gets difficult when it’s new,” offensive line coach George Warhop said at the end of minicamp. “I think a year from now, we’re always going to roll the guys around just in general, right? Unless you’re an established starter, you have to be able to play multiple positions. So you need to find guys who aren’t starters, who can be backups and can play multiple spots.
“But, as I was saying, next year it’ll be easy for those guys or easier.”
There have only been a couple of linemen who haven’t practiced with anyone not in the No. 1 group, at least during any of the open OTA or minicamp practices. Free-agent signee Zion Johnson has remained at left guard throughout, and trade acquisition Tytus Howard has stayed at right tackle.
Elgton Jenkins, another free-agent signee, has been the No. 1 center during the offseason. However, he’s also rotated with rookie Parker Brailsford with some regularity, especially during minicamp.
Otherwise, it’s been multiple players working at the two other spots, left tackle and right guard. Rookie Spencer Fano was at left tackle two of the three minicamp days and Dawand Jones was there for the other, and Teven Jenkins and KT Leveston had a similar rotation at right guard.
That movement, though, didn’t really start until the final week of OTAs and minicamp.
“I mean, it’s hard when you’re putting in a new system,” Warhop said of the movement. “And we didn’t move them around for the first couple weeks until they had a pretty good foundation. And once they got the foundation, we started moving them around. But in terms of why we do that, we need to find our best nine or 10 guys is what it boils down to.”
Browns coach Todd Monken has said the last two weeks of the offseason program the coaches “have a pretty good idea of four of the five. And then we got to figure out who’s that fifth.”
Howard, Johnson and Elgton Jenkins ― three key offseason acquisitions ― make up three of the four. Fano, meanwhile, is the fourth.
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Leveston, who’s moving from tackle to guard, and Teven Jenkins, who re-signed in the offseason, seem to be the prime candidates to be the fifth. But the next three to five players after those five include both returnees like Jones and Jack Conley, as well as rookies like Brailsford and third-round tackle Austin Barber.
It would be somewhat unfair to view the offseason program being about the mental and training camp being about the physical. Warhop instead framed it as camp being the time when the house is built upon what’s laid down in the offseason.
“We always talk physical play,” Warhop said. “So even though we really can’t be physical now, just because of the nature of the offseason, everything we do is about playing physical. So it’s always pad level, footwork, going forward, straining, all that’s always a part of it. We just really can’t do it until training camp.
“And I view this time as a foundational time for our guys, a foundational time for them from an offensive standpoint, a foundational time for them from a technical standpoint. … And even now, since we’re new here, for everybody, it’s getting the foundation down as to what we’re going to expect from them.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘New’ adding to difficulty as Browns OL learns multiple positions
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
