Kevin Stefanski wouldn't say if Dawand Jones would get a second start at left tackle. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (TheLandOnDemand)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
The revelation of Sunday’s game against Baltimore wasn’t so much Jameis Winston, who was named AFC offensive player-of-the-week for orchestrating the big upset over the Ravens.
No, it was Dawand Jones, rising from the ashes to play his first NFL game at left tackle and … nailing it in the best Browns' offensive showing of the season.
“I thought he, all things considered playing the position for the first time, acquitted himself nicely,” understated coach Kevin Stefanski. “Can he get better? Absolutely. There’s always things from a technique standpoint that you can improve.”
Winston was a lot less reserved.
“Well, me and Dawand, we know we hold each other to a high standard. So, I knew that he was going to be prepared and ready to go because he can and probably will be one of the best tackles this NFL has seen,” Winston said.
High praise for a guy that struggled through recurring knee issues, got too heavy even for his standards, was benched for two games, and made a very rare in-season transition from right tackle to left tackle in the span of one practice week.
“It’s been a roller coaster [season], but it’s football,” Jones told me at his locker.
(Jones is one of the few players who sits at his locker during every open media session and is accessible every day.)
“It’s not been an ideal season for me,” he continued. “Definitely I feel I regressed a little bit in some of my pass sets. They benched me for two games. I got focused on my sets and got back to myself of last year. That was the main thing.”
The benching, for the Philadelphia and Cincinnati games, woke Jones up.
“Yeah. I’d never been benched in my life,” he said. “It definitely was a big thing for me.”
Jones said he was about 15 pounds over his desired playing weight of 385. Which means he tipped the scales at 400-plus. He said he creeped up that high last year, but he could handle it before his knee injury.
“It doesn’t help being heavier with an injury,” he said.
The Browns told him to lose weight. He said with added cardio work after practice and a diet carefully crafted between his personal chef and the Browns’ nutritionist he is down to 380 pounds.
Jones practiced at left tackle his first two seasons at Ohio State, but he played there only in one game before excelling his final two years at right tackle. The Browns needed to make a decision at left tackle because Jedrick Wills, who has struggled mightily, missed last week with his own recurrent knee issue.
Jones said Stefanski was the person to break the news to him that he would practice last week at left tackle. Jones studied video of his one Buckeye game at the position and went to work.
“I got better throughout the week,” he said.
Now what?
Wills returned to practice on Wednesday. GM Andrew Berry’s first-ever draft pick, No. 10 overall in 2020, technically is in the last year of his rookie contract. Berry converted Wills’ $14.175 million salary this season to a $13 million cash bonus and added four voidable years. If Wills doesn’t get a new deal in 2025, the Browns will have $11.8 million in dead cap to deal with.
But if they turn the job over to Jones, they will have a potential force at left tackle under a rookie contract for two more years.
Jones said he doesn’t know what position is his future home – left or right tackle.
“I just want to get better and it’s up to them to let me know,” he said.
It’s Jameis, until it isn’t
Stefanski had an interesting answer when asked if Winston would be the starter for the rest of the season.
“Yes,” he said. “But as you know, in football we’re all day-to-day.”
It was a glib remark. But Stefanski knows that if the Browns’ “collaborative process” -- which includes Berry; Paul DePodesta, chief strategy officer; and owner Jimmy Haslam -- decides at some point to give Dorian Thompson-Robinson some starts at quarterback, it definitely will happen.
The Browns have a lot of decisions to make at quarterback in 2025, and one of them is to evaluate whether DTR might be able to serve as a “transition quarterback” in case the Browns use their No. 1 draft pick on a developmental quarterback.
Anyways, Winston was asked to react to Stefanski’s comment that he is the starter for the rest of the season.
“I’m just extremely grateful for this opportunity and I’m extremely grateful for today,” Winston said. “My focus is on winning every single day and right now, we have to go out there and win Wednesday. So, I’m grateful that I get a chance to lead this offense on Wednesday, even at practice.”
Winston said Stefanski’s assertion of sticking with him will not change anything in the way he prepares each week.
“My preparation is to be an NFL starting quarterback, to be a great NFL starting quarterback,” Winston said. “My preparation has to be to the standard that’s required and nothing’s going to change about that.”
At peace
Trade rumors involving cornerback Greg Newsome are probably off the table because of the most recent concussion suffered by Denzel Ward.
The Browns picked up Newsome’s fifth-year option for 2025, which is a guaranteed $13.37 million. That’s a high price for a third cornerback behind Ward and Martin Emerson, but it’s doubtful the Browns would entertain a trade of Newsome at this point.
Newsome was asked for his thoughts about the possibility of a trade.
“I’ve built a home here, I built a lot of brothers here, I’ve built great relationships with everyone in the building,” he said. “I know my value and I know they know my value. At the end of the day, my goal is to do my part and to continue to get this team to 1-0 this week. You see things like that. I gotta trust in the Lord above that whatever happens, I’ll be great. But I know AB [Berry] trusts me fully out there. So I’m really not looking at that stuff.”
Brownie bits
If nothing else, Nick Chubb is in classic form. His press availability lasted 2 minutes, 50 seconds. On his second game back after that brutal knee injury: “Felt a lot better than the first time. I was more confident. I saw the field better. I felt better everywhere. I’m still working through a lot of things.” …
Running back Jerome Ford (hamstring) returned to practice on a limited basis. So did left tackle Jedrick Wills (knee) and safety Ronnie Hickman (ankle) …
Stefanski said linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (neck) would not play Sunday v. Chargers. Cornerback Denzel Ward (concussion) is day-to-day, he said …
Players who did not practice: left guard Joel Bitonio (foot), linebacker Jordan Hicks (elbow, triceps), JOK (neck), Ward (concussion) and defensive end Za’Darius Smith (illness).