It's a ‘roller-coaster ride' for Browns' Shaffer

The Browns knew the moment they called left tackle Joe Thomas on the fishing boat.

As a No. 3 overall draft pick, he would anchor the offensive line.

Kevin Shaffer's professional life capsized in the wake. He would have to move from left to right tackle, not that far from telling C.C. Sabathia, "Pitch with the other arm this year."

Shaffer tried not to drown. Finally, he swam. He even reached the shore of the 2008 offseason with beach muscles.

The in-house consensus on Shaffer's progress in his new job: He's dependable and tough. He works hard and blocks smart. He pass-blocks well. The team wasn't sold on him at left tackle and doubts he will become a power-blocking right tackle, but he's a keeper.

After starting all 16 games at left tackle for the 2006 Browns, Shaffer started all 16 games in 2007 on the right side. Easier said than done.

"It's been a roller-coaster ride as far as feelings and emotions," Shaffer said. "I finally feel like I've settled, and I feel good about it. It wasn't always that way."

Thomas and Shaffer should be a better tandem in 2008. Thomas' confidence, already high, should be bolstered by a trip to the Pro Bowl. Shaffer won't spend half a year feeling like a fish out of water.

After starting more than 40 games at left tackle for the Falcons and a full season more for the Browns, it took weeks for new footwork to seem halfway natural. Then, Shaffer began sharing the right tackle job with veteran Ryan Tucker, who sat out the first four games because of a steroid-related suspension.

The right tackle platoon -- rarely used on NFL lines -- went on for four games. When right guard Seth McKinney went down with a season-ending injury, Tucker replaced McKinney. Shaffer had right tackle to himself for the last eight games.

"My feelings about the year and the future and everything were very different at any time during the season you may have talked to me," Shaffer said. "But now I feel good. I feel confident.

"I feel good about how the line played as a group, about how Tuck and I played next to each other. We know each other, complement each other."

Shaffer, who turns 28 on March 2, is signed through 2012, a year later than Thomas.

"I'm pretty confident I'll be here at least some more years," Shaffer said. "Four or five years down the road, I don't know what the scenario could be.

"I feel like I'm getting stronger every year. This is probably the strongest I've been."

Savage Likes Line

The Browns aren't saying much about center LeCharles Bentley's future. Bentley has missed the last two seasons following patellar tendon surgery.

The team played the second half of the season with Thomas at left tackle, Eric Steinbach at left guard, Hank Fraley at center, Tucker at right guard and Shaffer at right tackle.

"We would like to keep the guys that we have intact," General Manager Phil Savage said. "Seth McKinney is a free agent, so that would be up in the air a bit, but particularly that starting group that ended the season, we would like to go forward with."

Upgrading the blocking was a focus of Savage's previous three offseasons.

"We are in a position now that we won't have to chase our tails in free agency to get (the line) fixed," Savage said. "We are more in a position where we can draft a player at some point and develop him in the right way.

"I feel good about our offensive line going forward, but I do feel that we can add some young talent behind those veterans and get them ready for the future.

"I think we're finally up to speed in that area."

Canton Repository