CLEVELAND, Ohio — While most of the attention at Browns’ OTAs has focused on the quarterback battle, it has been a busy week in Browns left tackle lore.
First, Jedrick Wills Jr., the former Browns draft pick who held down the job for most of the last five seasons, will likely miss the 2025 season recovering from a knee injury. Wills is currently a free agent.
Second, Dawand Jones, now entering his third year, is poised to replace Wills and it’s noticeable how much more in-shape he looks than he did at this time a year ago when he was coming off of season-ending surgery.
“Lost a lot of body fat,” Jones said. “I’m kind of the same weight. ... I would say I lost probably 20 pounds (of body fat) from last year, so no range or nothing, but for sure lost a lot of body fat.”
Part of the mission of this season is getting answers on young players and whether they are part of the long-term future and Jones is at the top of the list. The former fourth-round pick held up well at right tackle, a position he knows well, during his rookie season, but Jack Conklin’s return last year left Jones as the odd man out, at least until injury forced Wills to vacate the left side.
The Browns moved Jones to left tackle, but the experience was cut short by a broken fibula that ended his season in Week 11. Jones also had a scope to clean up his knee this offseason.
It all left Browns fans longing for the halcyon days of writing Joe Thomas’ name in pen at left tackle every summer for 11 years.
There’s not a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer walking through that door anytime soon, but a sleeker looking Jones was standing at the podium and practicing in a hoodie and long pants on the hottest day of OTAs on Wednesday, looking like a man who understands the job is there for the taking.
The quarterback battle naturally takes center stage, but Jones’ ability to lock down left tackle could be just as important, especially given how temporary this quarterback room feels with two potentially high first round picks looming next year.
If one of the quarterbacks emerges as a franchise signal-caller, those picks could be used elsewhere — like at left tackle, unless Jones emerges as a franchise cornerstone at that position. Even for those cynical about Jones’ ability to do it, that seems a safer bet than any of the quarterbacks giving this team a definitive answer by January.
The Browns selected Wills at No. 10 overall in 2020, GM Andrew Berry’s first pick in his new job, and probably his biggest draft miss. It just never happened for Wills, a physically talented player who was sidetracked by injury and inconsistency and whose career here might be defined by his unfortunate choice of words when he called not playing in a game in 2024 a “business decision.”
Missing on such a high profile pick at such an important position means constantly chasing the correction, whether it’s spending in free agency or investing more high draft capital. The Browns tried to stick with Wills until the clock ran out on his rookie deal, even using his fifth-year option to try to make it work one last time.
Now they have two paths forward. The first and most ideal is Jones. Finding a long-term left tackle in the fourth round would be a coup and could save them a lot of trouble next offseason.
Jones’ cap hit for 2025 is $1,228,084 and $1,343,084 in 2026, the final year of his rookie deal. It matters because the entire offensive line could be in transition a year from now. Right tackle Jack Conklin, right guard Wyatt Teller, center Ethan Pocic and left guard Joel Bitonio are all in the final year of their deals, with Bitonio admitting on Monday he is basically year-to-year at this point when it comes to deciding to retire.
The Browns have drafted a center, Luke Wypler, and a guard, Zak Zinter, in recent drafts, but Wypler has played 57 offensive snaps in two years and Zinter struggled in limited opportunities last season. There’s work to be done for both before they can be considered heirs apparent. The Browns signed former Bears second-round pick Teven Jenkins to a one-year deal this offseason and having him in the building for a year could give them an opportunity to grease the skids for him to take over for either Bitonio or Teller.
The second path forward at left tackle is to spend your way out of the problem in free agency next offseason or invest a high draft pick. It’s more complicated by the amount of resources they may need to invest along the rest of the line.
If Jones establishes himself this season, it’s one less thing to have to use free agent dollars or draft capital on for a team that will still need to get younger and more talented at other spots.
If Berry can turn one of his most significant draft misses into one of his biggest draft successes with Jones, it makes this roster reset much easier.
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