The Debate Rages on...Who Should the Cleveland Browns Draft in the 1st Round?

If anybody knows me or has spoken to me, I am a fan of Joe Thomas. Joe Thomas was the starting left tackle for the Wisconsin Badgers. In 2006-2007 he won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best lineman. If anybody wants to question the athleticism of Joe Thomas, all they have to do is follow his high school career at Brookfield Central High School in Brookfield Wisconsin. In high school he was a tight end, defensive end, and kicker. But enough of my praise for Joe Thomas. Lets look at some numbers. Lets take the playoff teams of this year (2007) and see who they drafted in the 1st round in 2005 and 2006. I will break the stats down and then explain why it would be beneficial for the Browns to draft a lineman in the 1st round. First, the numbers:

The teams that made the playoffs this year would be the chargers, ravens, colts, patriots, jets, chiefs, bears, saints, eagles, seahawks, cowboys, giants.

San Diego Chargers: 2005- Shawne Merriman LB, Luis Castillo DT. 2006 - Antonio Cromartie, CB.
Baltimore Ravens: 2005 - Mark Clayton, WR. 2006 - Haloti Ngata, DT.
Indianapolis Colts: 2005 - Marlin Jackson, CB. 2006 - Joseph Addai, RB.
New England Patriots: 2005 - Logan Mankins, G. 2006 - Laurence Maroney, RB.
New York Jets: 2005 - No 1st rd pick. 2006 - D'Brickshaw Ferguson, OT, Nick Mangold, C.
Kansas City Chiefs: 2005 - Derrick Johnson, LB. 2006 - Tamba Hali, DE.
Chicago Bears: 2005 - Cedric Benson, RB. 2006 - No 1st rd pick.
New Orleans Saints: 2005 - Jamaal Brown, OT. 2006 - Reggie Bush, RB.
Philadelphia Eagles: 2005 - Mike Patterson, DT. 2006 - Brodrick Bunkley, DT.
Seattle Seahawks: 2005 - Chris Spencer, C. 2006 - Kelly Jennings, CB.
Dallas Cowboys: 2005 - DeMarcus Ware, LB. 2006 - Bobby Carpenter, LB.
New York Giants: 2005- No 1st rd pick. 2006 - Mathias Kiwanuka, DE.

As shown above, the most 1st rd picks were spent on offensive/defensive lineman. Is it a coincidence that these teams made the playoffs? Also, all the teams that drafted RB's in the 1st rd (IND, NE, CHI, NO) all either had established lines or they chose an offensive lineman in the years previous draft. Is it a coincidence with what Reggie bush did considering a year before the saints drafted Jamaal Brown? Some would argue that Free Agent Signings can be a more effective way of strengthening the line, while paying attention to the skill positions in the 1st rd of the draft.
But in the Browns case, who would want to come here with 1. Losing Jeff Davidson as the O line coach, 2. The Staph Infection Outbreak, 3. Losing Record, 4. Cold Weather. Now if the Browns were to land a Max Starks or Eric Steinbach they would hypothetically have to give up more money because of the aforementioned. Say that landing steinbach would cost the browns 4 million more dollars than Cincinnati. Just put that into perspective, only 3 players on the Browns Roster make over 4 million per year (Gary Baxter, Braylon Edward, Kellen Winslow JR). If you ask me, its is quite simple that if you draft a lineman and sign him to long term, you have effectively homegrown your line. This makes any free agent pickup that you make even more valuable. Plus, no browns fan would tell you that O-line depth is not important (see LeCharles Bentley).
The Main Reason I want to draft an Offensive Lineman in the first round is that I am sick and tired of the excuses. Whether it was Tim Couch, Charlie Frye, William Green, Lee Suggs, etc. the excuse has always been the same...the line. Now the difference would be that if we drafted Joe Thomas and maybe a few more linemen, and Free Agent pickups...nobody could say "the browns don't have a line". I also think Adrian Peterson would be a silly pick because he would get clobbered with the browns current line. Add to that the fact that LeCharles Bentley might not even be back next year, and that spells doom. And even on top of that, even if Adrian Peterson turned into the next L.T., all NFL teams would stack the line of scrimmage. I doubt the Charlie Frye is going to turn into Drew Brees overnight.
With that said, my closing statement is that I do like 1 thing the Saints did. They drafted a tackle and a year later a RB. If the Browns drafted a lineman this year and next year take the best RB available at their pick...I think that would be the best case scenario. This years draft has been called by most scouts as one of the worst RB classes in recent memory.