A deep dive into the Brown’s latest right tackle acquisition

Every franchise had needs going into the 2020 offseason, but few teams had a more glaring hole in their roster than the Browns did at the offensive tackle position. After a decade of greatness from future HOF left tackle Joe Thomas, Cleveland has struggled to find stability at either tackle slot in recent years – as evident by Baker Mayfield’s 20.2% sack rate in 2019, sixth highest in the NFL. After watching their young QB take beating after beating, Browns management could not ignore the issue any longer and decided 2020 would be the year to seriously address the team’s tackle problems.

The Browns first step towards improving the tackle situation would turn out to be an act of omission. Immediately following the season, insiders began leaking reports that the team had no intentions of resigning starting left tackle Greg Robinson when his contract expired in March – allowing the former number two overall pick to hit the free market and explore other career opportunities. Next, the Browns needed to address their other struggling edge-protector, right tackle Chris Hubbard. After two dreadful seasons starting on the right side, the writing was on the wall for the sixth-year man going into 2020. Ultimately, the former UDFA was forced to restructure his contract in March, opting to take a pay cut to avoid being released.

With Robinson gone and Hubbard demoted, the Browns turned their attention to free agency and the draft – signing former Titans RT Jack Conklin to a 3-year, $42 million contract before selecting Jedrick Wills of Alabama with the 10th overall pick in the 2020 draft to fill in at left tackle. Wills’ simultaneous transitions from college-to-pro and RT-to-LT is a fascinating topic in and of itself, however, for the purposes of this writing, I will limit my focus to the Conklin signing. More specifically, what Conklin means for the Browns offense and overall roster construction in the coming seasons

We’ll kick things off by examining Conklin’s fit in Kevin Stefanski’s new zone-heavy scheme. Then, we’ll move to some film examples highlighting the right tackle’s strengths/weaknesses, before wrapping up with a look into Conklin’s new contract and how it stacks up to other recent tackle signings.

Scheme Fit

Before we get too nitty-gritty, let’s begin with a bird’s eye view of the situation to see how Conklin stacks up against his peers at the tackle position. The plot below displays pass/run blocking grades from Pro Football Focus (PFF) for Conklin, Hubbard, Robinson and the other 59 NFL tackles who recorded at least 1,000 snaps over the past two seasons. (I know these grades are subjective, but as of right now, they are the best metrics we have for evaluating offensive line play.)

Conklin clearly distinguishes himself when it comes to run blocking, easily surpassing the previous Browns tackles and most other NFL tackles in PFF’s run grades. In fact, there are only five other OT’s throughout the league to record a higher run blocking grade since 2018. Unfortunately, almost the exact opposite can be said for Hubbard who recorded the third lowest run blocking grade over this period.

In addition to simply being a better run blocker than their former tackles, the Browns were also drawn to Conklin due to his experience in a zone-heavy run scheme like the one Stefanski is bringing to Cleveland. According to Sports Info Solutions (SIS), the 2019 Titans were among the league leaders when it came to zone running, calling zone on 65% of running plays, trailing only the Bengals and Stefanski’s Vikings (both at 67%) for highest zone rate in the league.

Conklin is also an upgrade when it comes to pass blocking, albeit not quite to the same extent as the run game. That being said, this smaller improvement in pass protection may prove to be more consequential than anything Conklin does to support the run. Given the importance of passing in today’s NFL, competent pass blocking is imperative if a team has any hopes of competing for a Superbowl. To put it differently, plays like this simply can’t happen if the Browns hope to be a factor in 2020.

Although he comes in just below average in the PFF pass blocking grades, Conklin performs well in other advanced pass blocking metrics such as ESPN’s Pass Block Win Rate (PBWR) which uses player tracking data to measure the percentage of blocks sustained for a given amount of time. Conklin finished 2019 with the 8th highest PBWR among tackles, winning on 92% of his pass sets.

Nevertheless, there are a few potential red flags with his pass blocking. Conklin benefited from a Titans scheme that leaned on short/quick dropbacks in 2019, limiting his number of true vertical pass sets. The Titans also aided Conklin by regularly designing chip blocks from tight ends or running backs. Fortunately for Conklin, much of these scheme-based luxuries should still be present within Stefanski’s offense in 2020 which is expected to feature plenty of bootlegs, play-action, TE help, etc. – all of which are designed to take pressure off of the O-line.

Now, let’s take a look at some film examples highlighting Conklin’s strength and weaknesses to help us visualize Cleveland’s newest right tackle within Stefanski’s offense.

Strengths

Conklin’s defining characteristic on the football field is his stellar use of hands (UOH). Everything from punch timing/placement to grip strength is damn near elite and allows Conklin to compensate for other deficiencies in his game. Below is an example of this UOH which came from last year’s AFC Championship game that pitted Conklin against Pro Bowl DE Frank Clark.

This is actually a fairly stereotypical pass set for Conklin who personifies the “bend but don’t break” approach to pass blocking. Although Clark appears to have the advantage as Conklin is quickly driven back towards the quarterback, Conklin is able to mount a stand thanks to a strong right hand that never leaves Clark’s breast plate following the right tackle’s initial punch.

However, good UOH is pointless if a tackle doesn’t have the footwork to go with it. Again, Conklin is a excels in this regard. Here we see another example of Conklin’s bend-don’t-break pass blocking, this time utilizing a series of tiny backwards hop steps to absorb an all-out bull rush from Houston’s Charles Omenihu in week 17.

Although he surrenders ground initially, Conklin never loses control of the situation. With each additional backwards hop, Conklin is able to plant his back foot and essentially use the ground as a backstop, working to slowly chip away at a defender’s momentum until the bull rush is neutralized.

If you’ve read this far, it probably comes as no surprise to hear that Conklin is also a master technician when it comes to run blocking. By combining his efficient footwork and consistent UOH with precise blocking angles and the right amount of nastiness, Conklin has become a force to be reckoned with in the run game. To see all of these traits on display, let’s check out an outside zone towards Conklin’s side which came against the Patriots in last year’s playoffs.

Just before the snap, we see Conklin signal to running back Derrick Henry that he will be kicking out the end man on the line of scrimmage. In this case, the end man happens to be stud hybrid linebacker Kyle Van Noy, one of the top run defenders at the position in 2019 according to PFF. Yet, Van Noy was hardly a factor on this play after Conklin whipped him off the line thanks to the aforementioned combo of hands/feet/attack angle with a little nastiness to top it all off.

Weaknesses

Unfortunately, Conklin was not born with this technical toolkit, rather he had to acquire these skills in order to make up for certain athletic deficiencies – particularly balance and quickness. Conklin is normally able to work around these limitations, but every now and then they rear their ugly head, like on this sack surrendered to the Bills in week 5.

Although most of the blame should go to the right guard, this play is also a bad look for Conklin who got a front row view of the sack after ending up on his rear end. As usual, Conklin has pretty solid technique here, keeping an eye on the end while leaving his left hand inside to help on the 3 technique. However, by helping inside, Conklin is thrown off balance by the crashing DT and ends up on the ground blocking nobody while his QB goes down for the sack.

Nor is the tackle perfect from a technical standpoint. One such flaw is his tendency to lower his head when meeting a charging pass rusher, which leaves him susceptible to swims and other counter moves like we see here when Conklin got schooled by Calais Campbell in week 12.

By attacking Conklin with multiple aggressive bull rushes to kick off the game, Campbell had effectively set his trap. Once Conklin dipped his head in anticipation of yet another clash, Campbell hit him with a quick swim inside, leaving Conklin flatfooted while the all-pro defender clobbered the QB.

Another technical blemish is Conklin’s tendency to over-pursue blocks in the run game. Earlier, I mentioned blocking angles when describing Conklin’s strengths, yet, every now and then savvy defenders are able to use these angles against the right tackle like we see here versus the Broncos in week 6.

On this counter play, Conklin is tasked with blocking down on the backer, A.J. Johnson. Unfortunately, Johnson sees this block coming and with one quick olé, the backer is able to swim past the charging Conklin before taking down Henry in the backfield.

Ultimately, Conklin’s strengths vastly outweigh his weaknesses which is why the right tackle was the among the top targets in this year’s free agent class. Combine this with Conklin’s seemingly perfect fit into Cleveland’s new zone scheme, and the signing looks to be a slam dunk for Stefanski and the Browns. However, anyone with investing experience knows that price, not just quality of the underlying asset, also determines whether something was a good investment or not. With this idea in mind, let’s now turn our attention away from the football side of the Conklin signing, and take a look at the money side of the equation.

Contract

Conklin’s path to free agency began last spring when the Titans declined the former first-round pick’s fifth-year option, making him an unrestricted free agent following the season. After a stellar start to his NFL career with a Pro Bowl appearance as a rookie, Conklin struggled in subsequent years before having his third season cut short due to a torn ACL. The Titans soured on Conklin following the injury and decided that the up-and-down right tackle wasn’t worth the investment.

Given the limited number of quality tackles in this year’s free agent class, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect the 25-year-old right tackle after coming off another impressive season with seemingly no hindrance from his ACL injury. The kid was due for a big pay day, and the Browns were happy to oblige, signing Conklin to a three-year, $42 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. Below is a year-by-year breakdown of Conklin’s new contract courtesy of OverTheCap.com.

(Note that the contract has a paper value of $70 million over five years but is effectively a three-year deal worth $42 million.)

The first thing to note with this contract is its relatively short duration compared to the normal four-year deals for other tackles in Conklin’s price range. Although players normally prefer longer deals, all else equal, Conklin and his agent opted for the shorter deal in hopes that the tackle (who turns 28 when this deal expires) will get another shot at a big contract in 2023 under a presumedly higher salary cap.

The second point of note with this contract is its massive front loading, with Conklin taking home $20 million in 2020 after accounting for salary and signing bonus. By structuring the deal this way, Conklin gets his big payout now while leaving the Browns with some flexibility going forward to address other young playmakers like Baker Mayfield and Myles Garrett when their rookie deals expire.

When it comes to salary cap impact, this deal is surprisingly light, only averaging $14 million a year against the cap. Although this makes him one of the highest paid right tackles, there is still a sizeable gap between Conklin and those at the tippy top of the RT wage scale such as Trent Brown and Lane Johnson, both with average cap hits of north of $15 million over the next few seasons. However, this gap pales in comparison to the difference between Conklin and the highest paid left tackles who are starting to see salaries approach the $20 million range.

Anyone who has seen The Blind Side knows that left tackles garner higher salaries than their brethren on the right side because they safeguard a team’s most valuable asset, the quarterback, from taking dangerous unforeseen blows. However, this conventional wisdom began to be challenged once NFL defenses realized that they could simply move their best pass rushers to the right side to take advantage of the seemingly weaker pass blocking on that edge – like we saw with T.J. Watt abusing Chris Hubbard in the first gif.

Now that right tackles are taking on a larger role in passing offenses, we’re starting to see deals approach left tackle levels (i.e. Lane Johnson and Trent Brown). But there is still some way to go before the market reaches equilibrium, thus implying a market inefficiency for prudent teams to exploit. By signing a right tackle and drafting a left tackle with a cheap rookie contract, the Browns seem to realize this and are embracing the idea of positional value when it comes to building out the team’s roster.

Conclusion

We began by examining Conklin’s seemingly perfect fit within Stefanski’s zone-heavy offensive scheme, partially due to his prowess as a run blocker but also due to his experience within a similar offense during his time in Tennessee. Next, we showed that, despite being an average athlete compared to other NFL tackles, Conklin is able to overcome his limitations with top notch fundaments – from hand placement in pass protection to attack angles when running the outside zone. Lastly, we wrapped things up with by delving into Conklin’s team-friendly contract, which largely resulted from the simple fact that he plays on the right side of the offensive line rather than left tackle.

In summary, this looks to be a fantastic pick up for the Cleveland Browns. As long as Conklin stays healthy, this signing should go a long way in helping the Browns move the ball and keep Baker Mayfield upright in 2020.