The Cleveland Browns made news this week as they turned from releasing Odell Beckham Jr. (saving money in doing so) to extending the contracts of both of their starting guards. Wyatt Teller got his first big contract in the NFL after being a fifth-round pick while Joel Bitonio gets his third contract with the team that drafted him in the second round.
In a league that tends to value offensive tackles more than interior offensive linemen, the Browns have valued both. The team spent their top pick in 2020 on left tackle Jedrick Wills after spending big in free agency to sign right tackle Jack Conklin. Center J.C. Tretter has signed an extension to the free-agent deal that brought him over to the team.
In signing Teller and Bitonio to top of the market deals, Cleveland has locked up two important pieces for their future. They have also firmly planted their flag as a run-first offense.
Paying interior linemen big money may not be the trend in the NFL but the team may have good reason to do so. Correlating Pro Football Focus information, the guard position is the most stable position in the NFL with far less variance in play:
The Browns spent over $100M this week on extensions for their two elite guards, Wyatt Teller and Joel Bitonio. One justification for this level of investment is that offensive guards have more stable PFF grades from year-to-year than any other position! pic.twitter.com/fvW9edOLbK
— Anthony Reinhard (@reinhurdler) November 11, 2021
While PFF grades are just one piece of information, it is interesting to see the fluctuation in grades among different player groups. Could that lead Andrew Berry to make more decisions to lock up lower variance groups while being more likely to churn those on the bottom? Only time will tell.
For now, Bitonio and Teller are locked up for years to come and, based on the above graph, their level of play should stay consistent during that time.