Cleveland Browns News: Checking in on Jedrick Wills, Jr.’s progress
By Randy Gurzi
How has Jedrick Wills looked for Cleveland Browns?
This offseason, the Cleveland Browns made sure to fix their offensive line with the addition of Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills. Conklin is an NFL veteran who is coming off his best season as a pro but Wills is a rookie. He’s also making a huge change going from the right side of the line to the left.
Thankfully for Wills, there are plenty of reasons to believe he can have success. One is the presence of Bill Callahan, a great offensive line coach. Another is the fact that he can go up against some quality edge rushers in Myles Garrett and Olivier Vernon — iron sharpens iron after all.
Lastly, he’s just a talented dude. Wills was about as sure of a draft pick as there was in the class and Cleveland had no qualms about bringing him in and moving him to the blindside.
Having said that, he still needs to put the work in and the COVID-19 concerns limited his offseason practice time. So with that being the case, how has he looked in practice? That’s exactly what Mary Kay Cabot answers in today’s featured daily Dawg Tag article.
Cleveland Browns News
"“Wills is coming up the learning curve, and has had the usual rookie ups and downs in his first week in pads as a left tackle at any level. With Myles Garrett missing the first five days of camp, the Browns moved Olivier Vernon to right end to go against Wills. But Vernon was a lot to handle for a rookie in his first few days on the job, so they moved Vernon back to the left side, and Wills worked mostly against Porter Gustin. At least one day, I saw Vernon work with Wills after practice on his pass sets, and help coach him up.”"
Not only is Wills learning the speed of the NFL game, but he’s transitioning to the opposite side of the line. Cleveland having studs such as Olivier Vernon and Myles Garrett to throw at him in practice will test him but in the end, it will make him much stronger as a player.
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"“Smith was named the MVP of Super Bowl XLVIII after totaling 10 tackles, one fumble recovery and an interception for a touchdown during Seattle’s 43-8 victory.”"
With Mack Wilson out for an extended amount of time, Cleveland decided to give Malcolm Smith a shot. The former Super Bowl MVP gives them their most experienced player and he has shown in recent years that he can still perform when called upon.
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