Browns select Jedrick Wills

The tenth pick arrived in the first round for the Cleveland Browns in Thursday's NFL Draft and they had three of the four options available to plug their hole at left tackle as only Andrew Thomas of Georgia had been selected before the Browns choice.

I had written the day before about the four tackles and about which I liked best of a field so closely matched and when I wrote the piece, I liked Tristan Wirfs best with his Iowa background and combine showing, Andrew Thomas as the most NFL ready, Mehki Becton as the player with the highest potential and highest bust factor and Jedrick Wills as perhaps the best all-around lineman, but with a question about his shorter arm reach.

After I was finished, something was nagging at me about the post and I knew what it was- I needed to look at these guys again.
Every draft writer seemed to have the four players in a different order with Dane Brugler of The Athletic rating Jedrick Wills first and Ourlads listing Tristan Wirfs in the first slot and Wills fourth.
I wrote the other two persons of interest posts and decided to skip my normal Browns preview on the team needs to watch more videos of the four tackles.

Side note: I had never heard of someone named "Voch Lombardi" before he made a guest appearance on a Browns' podcast and I was impressed with his knowledge of offensive line work.
I made sure to watch his videos (I didn't the first time) and I was quite impressed- if you want to look at your team's draftee (If not, Jedrick Wills) give Voch Lombardi a look.


I decided to watch different videos than I had previously, spent a few hours watching the four players, taking notes, etc and when the night was finished I realized that I had made a mistake.
That mistake was underrating Jederick Wills, whom I had rated behind Tristan Wirfs and Andrew Thomas and ahead of Mekhi Becton.
Without writing another post, I made this note inside the book of players that I keep each year-Jedrick Wills is at least even with Tristan Wirfs as my favorite and could prove to be the best of this class.

Back to the Browns and the clock is rolling, I still would be happy with any of the three but I'm hoping for Wirfs or Wills, but these are the Browns and for the good work that Cleveland accomplished in free agency, I still have the uneasy memories of Andrew Berry's drafts that he assisted Sashi Brown in that era, which basically ended with Myles Garrett and not much else with various trades that saw the Browns move down for multiple picks with few panning out.
Well, give Berry credit because the Browns kept the tenth pick and took Jedrick Wills as their selection to plug the left tackle opening for a long time.

At 6'4 and 312 pounds, Jedrick Wills has slightly more than average size (which says a lot for the evolution of size for an offensive lineman), but has very nimble feet and is extremely athletic and is the best pass-blocking tackle available.
In one of the videos that feature Wills is picking defenders off their feet and throwing them back downfield in pass protection.
Wills is a tackle that can overpower a rusher, yet has enough finesse to deal with someone attacking off the edge as he keeps his feet and finishes off his blocks.
Wills does have shorter arms than one would like from an elite tackle and could have some issues with the best power rushers for his first year or two until he gains experience, but other than that doesn't really have a weakness.

I also realized when looking at the tackles post, that I had forgotten to write something that I wanted to add as I mentioned Wills (and Tristan Wirfs as well) would be moving from the right tackle to the left tackle position, but I left out a portion that I wished I hadn't- Wills was blocking for Tua Tagovailoa, a left-handed passer.
Left tackle is usually the key spot on the line for pass protection, but for Alabama, Tagovailoa was their quarterback and his blindside was being protected by the right tackle-Jedrick Wills.

Tackle is a position that hits in the first round as often as it misses and nothing is a guarantee, but the Browns seem to have the makings of a pretty decent offensive line with Jedrick Willis and Joel Bitonio on the left side, J.C. Tretter at the center position and Jack Conklin at right tackle with only a battle at right guard to decided at training camp.
I'm a believer in building programs around exceptional players rather than quantities of average ones and by staying at the tenth pick, the Browns may have added an exceptional player.
Andrew Berry continues a good start in running the Browns and has a second and two third-rounders to use in tonight's second day of the draft.
It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with tonight.