CLEVELAND, Ohio — A good offense starts with the cohesion, timing, and blocking of the offensive line.
For the Browns, who have usually been among the better teams at blocking, 2024 was a different story.
Their offensive line was underwhelming, and looked worse by the week. Injury was the main element tied to bad play in 2023, but it wasn’t alone this past season as most of the line played three-fourths of the season.
It hasn’t resulted in any changes to the starters, but instead with a new O-line coach. The team moved on from Andy Dickerson and hired Mike Bloomgren, someone who Joel Bitonio is excited to play under.
“You get these clips and then he gets out on the field and you feel his presence,” Bitonio said. “The O-line coach kind of needs to be a (expletive). You need that, and it kind of rubs off on the guys and he’s been great.”
With over 25 years of coaching under his belt, Bloomgren’s experience coaching the offensive line has mainly come at the college ranks.
He’ll have his hands full with this unit, which is currently rehabbing and eyeing a bounce back.
That is where we come in, but from an analytical perspective, of course.
This data series will cover the strengths and flaws of each Browns position group.
Today, we dive into the offensive line.
Below, we go by each data group and list the totals from the 2024 NFL season related to offensive line.
Browns battle the New York Giants at Huntington Bank Field
Cleveland’s unit finished second in the NFL in sacks allowed (66) and third in sack yards lost (373).John Kuntz, cleveland.com
Sacks
It wasn’t the best showing in protecting the quarterback in 2024.
Cleveland’s unit finished second in the NFL in sacks allowed (66) and third in sack yards lost (373). A big increase from the 2023 season, where it finished 12th in sacks (45) and yards lost (318).
It was OT Jack Conklin who allowed the most sacks (seven), which also tied for ninth-most among tackles in the regular season, per Pro Football Focus
Conklin was coming off a torn ACL and MCL in Week 1 of 2023 and was better in other areas in 2024, but not in terms of protecting the quarterback.
Sacks allowed by player, per PFF
Sacks allowed by player, per PFFCleveland.com
Of the 66 sacks allowed, the quarterbacks were responsible for only 13 of them, per PFF.
And of that 13, seven were credited to Deshaun Watson, who had his own part in the results.
For starters, Watson would hold onto the ball for too long, ranking ninth in longest time to throw among qualifying quarterbacks (2.94), per Next Gen Stats.
Though he was responsible for only seven of the 33 sacks he endured, that’s still the most of any quarterback with single-digit appearances this season, per PFF.
The only thing that hurts Cleveland’s offensive line in this argument is they didn’t tighten up after Watson’s Achilles injury in Week 7. If they did, the blame would lean more toward Watson.
Instead, it’s divided down the line.
Run & Pass Blocking
There are multiple ways to describe the Browns’ performance in the run game and pass game, but we can keep it simple.
Pass blocking
Per Sharp Football Analysis, by Week 12, Cleveland tied for 10th in pass-block win rate (64%). They were only blitzed 23.6% of the time. which ranked 24th.
Bitonio had the best pass block grade (70.2), and only allowed three sacks, per PFF. It was Conklin who allowed the most sacks (seven) and quarterback pressures (38) while in pass blocking.
As a unit, they 27th in pass block grading (59.5).
Run blocking
On the flip side, they tied for 23rd in run-block win rate, and ranked 25th in most yards after carry created (2.66).
Ethan Pocic had the highest run block grading (63.7), per PFF.
As a unit, they were 30th in overall run block grading (50.2).
Penalties
Cleveland tied for fifth in most team penalties (119) in 2024.
Of the 119 penalties, 41 are credited to the offensive line unit, and 27 came from the starters.
It was Dawand Jones who led the unit in penalties (eight).
Six of his penalties were off false starts, which tied for ninth among all offensive linemen.
Now as a team, Cleveland tied for seventh in false starts (26), and the offensive line accounted for 21 of them.
The volume of false starts was higher in 2024 than in previous seasons.
Cleveland tied for 24th in 2022 (16), tied for 28th in 2022 (12), and tied for 24th in 2023 (16).
On top of this, seven different linemen accounted for one or more offensive holding, but as a unit, they were only 23rd for total offensive holds, which is a plus.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco
Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco is back with this unit.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com
Joe Flacco
Yes, there are four quarterbacks battling for snaps ahead of the 2025 season.
But if the man who took them to the playoffs wins the job, his previous experience with this unit would help.
Joe Flacco's totals in 2023, per Next Gen Stats
Next Gen Stats provides an analytical background of Joe Flacco's play in 2023.Cleveland.com
Through those five games in 2023, Flacco racked up 1,616 yards on a 60.3% completion rate for 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
He spent 3.01 seconds in the pocket, which ranked seventh in longest average time to throw, per Next Gen Stats.
It may seem like a while, in pure Flacco form, that’s all he needed to time his throws to his target, which obviously was successful.
The blocking from the unit allowed for the gunslinger to rank second in completed air yards (7.5), and third in aggressive percentage (19.1%), which tracks the amount of passing attempts a quarterback makes that are into tight coverage.
Through those games, Flacco was also sacked eight times. Though, half of that came in the Week 15 win over Chicago, per PFF. Credit it to late season fatigue if you’d like.
Conclusion
All that is needed for a better performance in 2025, is a tighter sense of cohesion, and adjusted timing with these quarterbacks at hand.
Both of those elements connect to each subject matter above.
But it’s up to them to make it happen, not us.
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