Dorsey attempted to either add a potential eventual starter or at least add depth to the offensive line as he traded the Browns' fifth and sixth-round selections in the 2020 draft to the Buffalo Bills for guard Wyatt Teller and Buffalo's 2021 seventh-round pick.
Teller started seven games for the Bills as a rookie last season after being drafted in the fifth round out of Virginia Tech.
Teller was listed as the second-stringer by the Bills at guard but had reportedly played well in the Bills exhibition games, although Buffalo added several players for their line in the offseason.
Teller is reported to be better in the run game than in the passing game and is more of a mauling pressuring type guard than an athletic guard.
While I applaud John Dorsey for not waiting until this became a major problem, it does go back to what seems to be his two biggest mistakes in his tenure in Cleveland- Day two of the 2018 draft.
I'll talk about Chad Thomas over Sam Hubbard in the third round on another day, perhaps, but Dorsey's selection of Austin Corbett with the first round of the second round is looking very suspect.
Dorsey felt that Corbett could handle a starting guard position and felt that so strongly that Corbett could do so, that he traded Kevin Zeitler to the Giants as part of the biggest swap of the winter and virtually handed the position to Corbett.
Corbett was taken over several other linemen in that spot, including Teller, who was a fifth-rounder as mentioned above.
As of now, the investment is a two, five, and six in the guard position that they hoped has been filled for a while
Corbett couldn't hold that position and likely only his draft status and ability to be the backup center will save him on cutdown day and even that isn't a guarantee.
Veteran Eric Kush, who was signed as a free agent and the Browns hoped he would be a depth player, but instead won the starting job over the ineffective Corbett, rookie Drew Forbes, who was injured tonight against Detroit, and Kyle Kalis, who also spent time with the first team before his injury earlier in camp.
The Browns had some extra day three picks that Dorsey could play with a bit (holding Houston's either three or four for Duke Johnson, Arizona's six for Jamar Taylor, and Buffalo's seven for Corey Coleman), so the loss of the fifth and sixth aren't going to hurt very much.
Still, what seems to be a second-round miss on Corbett hurts (although the pick of Nick Chubb later in the round soothes the pain more than a little) and the loss of Kevin Zeitler (although Oliver Vernon is going to be a huge addition opposite Myles Garrett on the pass rush) is already proving to be a far larger loss than expected.
In addition, with Wyatt Teller only in his second season, if Teller turns out to be a starter for a few seasons, which is hopefully the case, the cost of obtaining a young starter is very reasonable.
What I am encouraged about is that John Dorsey isn't going to sit back and watch things spiral out of control before trying to do something to fix the problem.
We will have to see if Wyatt Teller can fix that problem, but it's nice to have someone in charge that will be proactive in Cleveland.
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