In his three years in the league, Dawand Jones has shown flashes of strong play for the Cleveland Browns at both right and left tackle. However, with three season-ending injuries in as many years, there's no way the Browns can feel comfortable rolling with him as a locked-in starter in 2026.
After the Browns selected a pair of new tackle prospects in Spencer Fano and Austin Barber in the first three rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft, the writing is already on the wall.
Unless he's willing to accept a rotational role this season, Jones' days in Northeast Ohio might be numbered.
This might be the end of the line for Dawand Jones in Cleveland
The Browns will probably give Spencer Fano every chance to win the starting left tackle job in training camp. He started his college career at Utah on the left side before moving to the right for the past two years. Another option could be to try moving Tytus Howard to left tackle, and leave Fano on the right side.
If both of those experiments fail and Fano needs more time to adjust to the NFL level, Jones might get the first crack at being the starting left tackle. However, given Fano's positional versatility and draft pedigree, it shouldn't be long before he finds his way on the field.
Barber, on the other hand, is an athletic freak and a developmental swing tackle who should also be one of the first guys off the bench in the case of an injury. That only gives Jones even more competition for snaps.
Of course, Jones isn't completely to blame for his never-ending injury woes. The NFL can be a cruel business, and there's no value in holding onto injury-prone players.
The Browns should absolutely make room for Jones on the roster, but they clearly no longer believe he can be a long-term solution at the position. At best, he's going to provide insurance for both of the starting tackles, with Barber developing for a larger role down the line.
All signs point to this being the end for Jones in Cleveland. Given the lack of high-end blindside protectors across the league, a tackle-needy team might be tempted to roll the dice on the Browns' former fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft.
Andrew Berry seems eager to collect as much mid-round draft capital for 2027 as possible, and if Jones can prove that he's healthy this summer, a Day 3 pick could be enough to get him out of Cleveland.
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