Browns veteran Jack Conklin will be major catalyst against Cowboys

A “catalyst”, when referencing a person or object, is best described as someone or something that can cause a change or specific event to occur. In the NFL, each team arrives on gameday with a 53-man roster, each hopeful that they can make an impact on the field, giving their team the advantage and ultimately winning. On September 8th, however, I predict the player who will influence the Cleveland Browns game the most will be offensive tackle Jack Conklin.

The emergence of Right Tackle (RT) Dawand Jones in 2023, gave the Browns some much-needed flexibility along the offensive line. With former starting left tackle Jedrick Wills still injured, the Browns are expected to start Conklin at LT, protecting Deshaun Watson’s blindside.

This will allow Cleveland to flex two, in their opinion, two starting caliber tackles (Conklin and Jones) into two starting tackle positions. Conklin will get the first crack at the LT position because he's the better of the two. Conklin played both tackle positions as an offensive lineman previously, however, that was over a decade ago when he played for Michigan State University.

As mentioned before, a "catalyst" causes a change or event to occur; however, it does not specify whether that is positive or negative. The reality is that Wills, although many have called for him to be benched/released, gets the job done against the pass. In fact, during the 2023 season, ESPN graded Wills Jr. as the eighth-best OT in the NFL for Pass Block Win Rate.

For some perspective, with the same criteria in 2022 (the last season Conklin was healthy), he was not ranked within the top ten. This means that there is a possibility that Watson may face more pressure than expected due to skill and position change. Two areas we can hope to see immediate improvements out of Conklin at LT would be penalties, and run blocking.

So why the catalyst? Jack Conklin is a two-time All-Pro Tackle which cannot be ignored. While his most recent All-Pro season was in 2020, his first season with the Browns, it seemed as if every season he'd come into training camp with some lingering injury that limited him from his ceiling.

What if, playing LT is just the change Conklin needs? He's capable of holding Micah Parsons from reaching Watson because as long as he's healthy he's one of the best OTs in the NFL. I assume the Cowboys will send Parsons through the right side knowing the blind side is held down by All-Pro Linemen, however, they could test Conklin's ability to play out of position right away.

The scenarios are endless, and success for Conklin at LT on Sunday could shake up the whole offensive line moving forward, but I believe Conklin will have the biggest impact on the game Sunday; either Micah Parsons and Dallas' Defense is contained, or they wreak havoc on Deshaun Watson. Conklin can help deter Parsons and improve the run blocking along the left side of the offensive line; avoiding drive-killing penalties.

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