Not long after parting ways with J.C. Tretter, the Browns are set to add to the interior of their offensive line. The team is signing center Ethan Pocic, as first reported by NFL insider Jordan Schultz (on Twitter). 
[RELATED: Browns To Cut Tretter]
Pocic, 26, played five seasons in Seattle after being drafted in the second round by the Seahawks in 2017. Over that time, he played at both guard and center. In total, he registered 57 appearances and 40 starts with the team.
Pocic’s heaviest workloads in terms of snaps percentage have come in the past two campaigns. In 2020, he was on the field for every offensive play in the 14 contests he suited up for, and last season, that figure was 79%. The 2021 campaign was the first in which the LSU alum didn’t commit any accepted penalties. That helped him earn a PFF grade of 67.3, the highest of his career.
Pocic’s days in Seattle were likely numbered when the team signed Austin Blythe at the start of free agency. The former Ram returned to the NFC West after one season as a backup in Kansas City. Given the absence of Tretter in Cleveland, though, Pocic has an opportunity to compete for the starting center job with Nick Harris. The latter has played sparingly in two seasons with the Browns.
With Pocic, the Browns have gotten younger in the middle of their offensive front while adding accomplished depth at a minimum. If the deal is similar in value to his career earnings, it also shouldn’t use up too much of the Browns’ roughly $21MM in cap space.
As a Seahawks fan, this is addition by subtraction. Hopefully Bythe is better…
As a Hawks fan, I see this as good confirmation Pocic wont be coming back, and I am hoping Blythe is a depth signing.
Can we get Trotter to go with Mayfield? Be nice to have a real center after a decade of nothing.
Not sure Trotter will be that good, he’s 45 now and hasn’t played since 2009.
Just say no to Baker.
I can see him playing guard next year and moving Jed Wills to right tackle where he played in college to replace Conklin. They can move Bitonio to left tackle where he played a game or 2 last year and graded out great. The Browns will need to create cap space next year.
This isn’t peewee football.
Your name describes you perfectly. Apparently you’re not a Browns fan otherwise you would have known those facts. Bitonio graded high at LT. Wills is struggling at LT. Conklin will be gone after this year and the Browns won’t have the cap to sign a FA RT. Most lineman are interchangeable. I’ve taught you more about football in one paragraph than you knew before
Moving an All-pro guard to be an average maybe slightly above average tackle. Makes perfect sense. There is a reason he went from a college tackle to a professional guard. Filling in a game or 2 and doing a decent job doesn’t mean it should be permanent. I trust Joe Thomas who like Willis coming out of the draft, not a 9 year old browns backer.
Wills certainly has struggled so maybe Joe doesn’t know so much. He’s barely average at protecting the 230 million dollar man’s blindside. The Chiefs moved Thuney to LT and he was a guard and even better than Bitonio. Plus, he was more than decent at LT. Why else do you acquire a starting center if you just said Harris was ready?