Scooter
Funky
For the sake of this point, I'll narrow this discussion down to Brown at left tackle. I consider a young Orlando Pace an example of a "franchise" left tackle. A team drafts him, starts him immediately, and (barring injury) doesn't worry about the position in the long term and doesn't worry about the position in the short term i.e. game to game matchups.
Calling Duane Brown a franchise left tackle dilutes the term. He's an adequate starter for this franchise. That's about it.
well, you've railed on me for putting charles spencer into the hall of fame, and by that count no i dont think we've landed an all world guy lol. where you're not seeing orlando pace for 15 years, i do see a more than above average guy who will perform at a high level for a long time and is capable of handling his job. we're not going to get adrian peterson and chris johnson backing him up, with peyton throwing the ball to andre johnson and randy moss ... your suggestion of franchise appears to be more of an all-world superstar than a 5-10 year "franchise" starter. duane brown isnt the best player at his position, but he's a very good second year player that's only going to get better and will be able to man his position at a very high level for hopefully a very long time. he's not orlando pace, but who is?
actually, rereading your post. didnt you just describe duane brown? we drafted him early, started immediately (rotating a backup because of rookie conditioning), we wont be addressing the position barring injury and by early indicators will extend his contract as starter, and shift protection to his side as rarely as any team in the league. an easy arguement can be made that that's because winston is much weaker in pass pro, but considering who duane has to go against it should be more than a wash. schaub's putting up top 5 numbers with a 2nd year player protecting his blind side.