When a runner like Jamal Lewis is your workhorse, and your young QB lit it up last year largely because he managed to get the ball out of there promptly, the interior of your offensive line is especially important.

See, Lewis has size, but he’s not your typical pounder in the mold of Bettis, Duckett, and Alstott. He’s actually quite fleet once he gets up to speed. That’s what makes him such a force (which is, by definition, the product of mass and acceleration).

Keeping defenders away just long enough for him to gain traction is key, and that’s what good guards and centers can do. They also give their QB that critical first glance downfield by warding off the inside rush and allowing quick three-step drops to succeed.

We Browns fans have long bemoaned the turnstiles at the two guard positions. Sadly, I’ve tallied no fewer than 28 starting Browns guards since 1999. But now check out the embarrassment of riches stocking the interior line depth chart (scroll down due to Bloggered spacing):

That’s right, the Browns’ roster at the middle three positions of the line have started a combined 470 games in the NFL. Seven different players have each been starters for at least the equivalent of two full seasons.

Obviously, like a tall sand castle drying in the wind, this cannot stand for long.

Tucker, it seems to me, is destined to drift over to right tackle. The current roster includes only three tackles: Joe Thomas, Kevin Shaffer, and Cliff Louis. Nat Dorsey is a free agent whom Romeo sounds disinclined to want back. Even if Tucker can’t beat out Shaffer, he can back him up well, and he could step in if Shaffer needs to relieve Thomas at LT.

In Hadnot, McKinney, and Friedman, we have three experienced players all able to play either guard or center. Assuming that Tucker returns to tackle, Hadnot has the inside track to start at right guard, with Steinbach and Fraley the other interior starters.

So the question becomes how many other linemen make the roster. I think Romeo would like to get by with activating just seven on game days. The flexibility and experience on this line should afford him this luxury. There’s room for at most two others on the 53-man roster. Ideally, these would be young, affordable guys whom you envision as viable injury replacements and future starters.

That’s not who we have.

We have Bentley, who we’d all love to see return to anything approaching good football health. But the sign(ing)s just don’t point in that direction. I don’t see the Browns relying on him whatsoever. Upon resigning McKinney, Phil Savage didn’t count Bentley as one of the seven starters he has for the five positions. And so would that ravaged knee prove trustworthy enough to make him a reliable backup, or does that risk a cascading line failure? I fear the latter.

We have McKinney, who returned from a neck injury to start half the year, and now is apparently well enough after shoulder surgery to merit another one-year look-see.

We have Friedman, another year-to-year veteran, who may not be as strong a player as the others, but has the advantage of being a special teams contributor, helping create seams for Josh Cribbs.

Assuming Bentley can’t make the team, that’s nine right there. Only injury would allow one of the developmental players to make the team. Who are they again?

There’s Sowells, the fourth-round pick in ’06, coming off shoulder surgery of his own. I’ve yet to hear any comments implying that he is developing particularly well or that the Browns see him as a stalwart starter some day.

There’s Louis, who stuck last year after attending rookie minicamp on a tryout basis. Six-foot-eight from Morgan State, he’s not ready for prime time. But just from sheer lack of numbers at the tackle position, he’s worth keeping tabs on though.

And there’s Philip, who might become a decent center at some point. The practice squad is probably his best hope as a Brown in ’08. If he develops, he may have an outside shot in ’09. Three of the players ahead of him are on one-year contracts.

So we have plenty of viable depth, especially inside, and a few affordable prospects. They’re just not the same people. Even beyond the Bentley comeback drama, the battles on the offensive line will be interesting to follow as spring turns into summer.

My extremely premature projected depth chart: