CLEVELAND, Ohio — Have the Browns already solved their left tackle problem?
It’s a question that will very likely be answered this year by Dawand Jones.
Jones is poised to make the move from the right side of the line, where he’s played a majority of snaps in his first two NFL seasons as well as during his college career at Ohio State.
The 6-foot-8, 374-pound tackle showed the Browns enough in three starts on the left in 2024 to earn his shot. In 176 snaps, Jones gave up no sacks and allowed only six total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus tracking data.
However, his year ended prematurely when he suffered a broken left fibula on Nov. 17 against the Saints, causing him to miss the final seven games.
It was the second straight year in which Jones was knocked out with a season-ending injury.
As a rookie in 2023, he needed surgery to repair his torn MCL midway through the season, and missed the final nine games after an encouraging campaign as the starting right tackle.
In February, he underwent another arthroscopic procedure to clean up the same knee.
But Jones was back and looked better than ever during the offseason program.
“Big Thanos,” as he is affectionately nicknamed by his teammates, has noticeably put on more muscle and leaned out, estimating he’s lost about 20 pounds of body fat.
“Most of the left tackles are a little bit more leaner and I feel like that will help my game being lean,” Jones said this spring. “Kelsey (Fahy), which is our nutritionist, we worked offseason together and we came up with a great plan. and it definitely came together and it was worked out for me.”
Indeed, finishing a season healthy will be key to Jones establishing himself as the Browns’ left tackle of the future.
“That’s one of my major goals that I made, is just to finish out a whole season and I just want to live up to that,” Jones said.
The Browns are in this position after already once trying and failing in this regime to solve their left tackle problem.
The team opted to not re-sign Jedrick Wills Jr., their 2020 first-round pick, who himself struggled with injuries during his Cleveland tenure and failed to consistently produce on the left side.
If Jones can establish himself, it will solve a long-standing problem the team has had at the position since Joe Thomas’ retirement. It will also be key knowing they hit big on a 2023 fourth-round draft pick.
But in order to be that guy, Jones has to not only stay healthy but successfully make the switch.
Initially, he balked at the possibility of switching to the left side, mainly because it’s where he’s gotten the most experience and because he’s right handed.
“I think it’s hard to adapt to something else,” Jones said. “I have a big, strong, right-hand punch. I’m right handed so it’s easier punch to the right, but left side I feel like it’s more finesse. The game, it comes through you a little bit slower and sometimes faster at times, just depends.”
But he’s been putting in the work to gain that finesse needed on the opposite side.
Not only has he dropped weight to try and master that finesse, he’s also gone to work in the film room.
This offseason, Jones has studied Tampa Bay Buccaneers left tackle Tristan Wirfs, who is a similar size at 6-5, 320. Wirfs primarily played right tackle while in college at Iowa.
Jones also studied a lot of Texans tackle Trent Brown, who transitioned from right to left tackle in 2022 while with the New England Patriots.
“Just the way they move in space,” Jones said. “I think sometimes I struggled with that. Just moving in space is for me as a big guy, and Trent Brown, Trent Williams, Tristan, they all move well in space. And in the pass game their feet is always in sync with each other.
“Sometimes I’ve seen Trent get beat, obviously he got beat by Myles (Garrett), he’s got beat by Micah (Parsons), but it’s very rare. I want to be in that very rare category. And it is good watching him and getting that film because you see it and you do it on the field, and that helps out so much.”
Jones has a long way to go to answering this very big question, but so far, he’s off to a solid start.
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