While the Cleveland Browns did not escape their dominant season-opening win over the Cincinnati Bengals without incident, reason for optimism remains. RT Jack Conklin suffered a season-ending injury along the way, but the solution might already be on the roster, according to NFL analyst Brian Baldinger.
That would be Dawand Jones, one of the most talented tackles to come out of the 2022 NFL Draft, but whose stock plummeted because of concerns about his willingness to dedicate himself to the game and keep himself in shape.
Jones took over at right tackle after Conklin went down, playing 52 snaps. While he struggled as a run blocker overall working against the likes of Sam Hubbard, he more than held his own protecting QB Deshaun Watson on passing downs.
“When he entered, the offense took off”, Baldinger said via Twitter of Jones, who checked into the game early in the second quarter. He said that the rookie has “the biggest wingspan in the NFL”, using his long arms to keep pass rushers at a safe distance, “and he knows out to use it”.
“He showed up like he was a seasoned vet”, he added, “and in fact, he looked fast. Could a 380-pound man look fast? He sure does. On a run play near the goal line, blocking ILB Logan Wilson, he said that Jones “runs him from one side of Cleveland to the other side”.
An early favorite in the first round during the pre-draft process, Jones slid all the way into Day Three, drafted in the fourth round at 111 overall. Now he is a starter. Still, while he showed potential in his NFL debut, his next test will be against the Pittsburgh Steelers’ T.J. Watt, who had three sacks against the San Francisco 49ers on a day on which they only had 34 designed drop backs.
While Hubbard is certainly no slouch, he’s not T.J. Watt. There are only maybe three or four other edge defenders in the league who could even reasonably be placed in the same category, and that might only be because of his injuries last year making people forget just how good he is.
One advantage the rookie has is that one of those players just so happens to line up across from him in practice in Myles Garrett, so it’s not like he’s unfamiliar with the concept of working against a truly elite pass rusher.
Still, I think the Browns’ coaching staff would have felt a lot more comfortable preparing for Watt if they still had Conklin at right tackle. But Cleveland may well have found a true long-term starter in Jones. Time will bear that out, but there was never any question about his talent level. Now he’s showing he has the heart as well.
