The Cleveland Browns might have the best pair of offensive guards in the entire NFL, but as good as the offensive line is on the inside, it’s equally suspect on the outside.
Cleveland’s issues at the tackle position don’t end with left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr., though they certainly begin there. The former first-round pick in 2020 (No. 10 overall) has been at least a relative bust since joining the league four seasons ago.
Given, Wills has started all 53 games in which he’s appeared for the Browns over his four-year career, but he’s been far from the offensive tentpole a franchise expects when spending such an expensive asset on a player. Wills finished last season as the 64th-ranked tackle out of 81 players league-wide who saw enough snaps to qualify, per Pro Football Focus.
Despite his struggles, a lack of options led the Browns to pick up a pricey $14.2 million fifth-year option on Wills’ deal ahead of last season to keep him in Cleveland through the 2024 campaign. Making matters worse, the left tackle then suffered injuries last year that kept him out of nine games.
Wills’ situation being what it is, Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report on July 4 named the Browns as a possible suitor for former Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari, who remains a free agent.
“Because Bakhtiari does have to prove himself again, he could become a massive free-agent bargain,” Knox wrote. “Bakhtiari would be worth a flier for the Cleveland Browns, who lost Jedrick Wills Jr., Jack Conklin and Dawand Jones to season-ending injuries last season. Wills has also failed to establish himself as a top-tier left tackle, so it would behoove the Browns to see if Bakhtiari can fill that role in 2024.”
David Bakhtiari Confident in Ability to Remain Healthy, Despite Years of Evidence to Contrary
Bakhtiari hasn’t been reliable from a health standpoint for several years now, which makes him as risky as Wills heading into 2024, if not more so.
The difference is that when Bakhtiari is on the field, he has been — and remains — an All-Pro type of talent. Bakhtiari has earned spots on five All-Pro teams (two first-team selections and three second-team selections) over the course of his 11-year career.
However, an ACL tear late in the 2020 campaign has resurfaced time and again in different contexts to rob the left tackle of all but 13 of 51 regular-season games over the course of the past three seasons. He appeared in just one contest in both 2021 and 2023, which led the Packers to cut short his four-year, $92 million contract by a full season via releasing him this spring.
Still, Bakhtiari remains optimistic that he can play at a high level throughout the entire NFL calendar as he enters his age-33 campaign.
“I am your cornerstone guy,” Bakhtiari proclaimed while speaking with the “The Adam Schefter Podcast” on June 18. “Someone that’s not only going to play in September but in December and into February and obviously, hopefully, for another couple of years.”
Imperative Browns Do Everything Possible to Keep Deshaun Watson Upright, Healthy in 2024
Cleveland may have little to no choice but to take a flier on Bakhtiari, or some other play like him, considering the status of its roster.
Left tackle is among the premier positions in football and is, perhaps, the second most important behind only quarterback itself. The Browns already have serious questions under center, as Deshaun Watson enters the third season of a five-year, $230 million deal that is fully guaranteed and is the organization’s glaring front office fumble amid what has otherwise been a successful few years of roster building.
Watson has played just 12 games over his first two seasons with the team due to an 11-game suspension in 2022 and 11 contests missed due to injury in 2023. When he has been on the field, he’s mostly been bad, and Cleveland can’t afford to exacerbate an already sub-optimal QB situation by allowing pass rushers across the league to blow past Wills and pressure Watson into more mistakes — assuming they don’t hammer him into the turf before he makes them.
David Bakhtiari Far Better Than Any Tackle on Browns’ Roster When Healthy
Jones was an exceptional performer by rookie standards last season, especially for a fourth-rounder, but he was more or less serviceable as primarily a right tackle when grading absent that curve.
Conklin is also a right tackle, which is meaningfully different as a position from its left-side counterpart. And while he was an All-Pro in 2020, Conklin has appeared in just 22 of 51 regular-season contests over the Browns’ past three campaigns.
If Wills, Conklin and Jones all somehow play as the absolute best versions of themselves in 2024, Bakhtiari’s best version still blows all three of them off the field. Beyond that, Bakhtiari will have to play at a major discount considering his recent injury history and a lack of interest around the league in signing him to this point, which makes the play a win-win swing for the Browns however it shakes out.
