The quartet of tackles chosen during the first half of the 2020 first round delivered mixed results on their respective rookie contracts. Tristan Wirfs has become an anchor in Tampa, now residing as the NFL’s highest-paid left tackle, while Giants draftee Andrew Thomas — when available — has been among the best LTs as well. Mekhi Becton, who looked like the worst of the batch as his Jets career careened off course, has bounced back as a guard.
Quietly, Jedrick Wills — chosen ahead of Becton and Wirfs (at No. 10 overall) — remains in free agency. The Browns could not rely on the Alabama alum following troublesome 2023 knee injuries (MCL and PCL sprains, along with bone bruises), and despite picking up his fifth-year option, the team demoted a five-year starter late last season. As Wills remains unattached, the Browns are aiming to turn to another injury-prone option to replace him.
Dawand Jones has filled in for both Wills and Jack Conklin in Cleveland’s lineup, but the Ohio State alum has also seen both his NFL seasons end early. Jones suffered a knee injury during a December 2023 practice, ending his season and further depleting a Browns O-line that had already lost Conklin and Wills by that point, but he returned on time in 2024 — something the Browns’ then-tackle starters failed to do — and played 10 games (eight starts). Not long after the Browns elevated Jones over Wills, the 2023 fourth-rounder sustained an ankle injury to close his second season. He also underwent a cleanup knee procedure this winter.
The Browns, however, did not draft a tackle or any O-linemen last month. As the team conducts a rare four-man quarterback competition, cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot notes Jones is on track to start at left tackle. Jones opened as a Week 1 starter last year, but he was then a fill-in performer. The Browns do have part-time 2024 Commanders starter Cornelius Lucas — who signed a two-year, $6.5MM deal — in place as insurance, but the 12th-year veteran’s contract points to a swing role. The Browns certainly needed their swingmen during the Wills-Conklin period, and with the latter still in place after an offseason pay cut, Lucas stands to be important even in the event Jones becomes Cleveland’s LT starter.
Playing 334 right tackle snaps and 176 on the left side in 2024, Jones graded as a bottom-five tackle (in the view of Pro Football Focus) last season. The advanced metrics site was more bullish on Jones in 2023, ranking him 48th among tackle regulars. PFF graded Lucas (464 offensive snaps) 28th among tackles last season. This plan, with Jones unproven and injury-prone and Lucas entering an age-34 season, brings considerable risk for a Browns team with a destabilized QB situation.
The other pieces from a once-formidable Browns O-line are also aging. Joel Bitonio considered retirement this offseason and will turn 34 in October. Teller and longtime Bitonio guard sidekick Wyatt Teller are entering age-31 campaigns. While no reinforcements arrived in the draft, the Browns did sign three-year Bears guard starter Teven Jenkins on the cheap (one year, $3.1MM); that may prove important given the ages of the team’s expected starters. Even center Ethan Pocic is not young, by NFL standards, as he will play an age-30 season this year.
Lucas winning the LT job would stand to give the Browns an extraordinarily rare all-3o-something front, but the team is hoping Jones can provide some youth for the unit. Jones, 24 in August, has two years remaining on his rookie deal. A Browns team that may need to conduct an O-line overhaul in 2026, as its four 30-something starters are in contract years, would certainly benefit from a young player seizing the reins this season.