Dawand Jones key to Browns 2025 NFL offseason

The final games of 2024 are about a lot of things on the Browns roster including Dawand Jones at left tackle

As the Cleveland Browns spend time on their bye week prepare to play out the rest of the 2024 NFL season, fans are looking ahead. While GM Andrew Berry, as expected, provided very little tangible plans for the future including QB Deshaun Watson when he spoke to the media on Wednesday.

What we know is that the Browns young players and the NFL draft hopes are really what matters for the rest of the year. WR Cedric Tillman has already established that he can play a role on offense moving forward. Two young defenders have stepped up recently and DE Isaiah McGuire has a chance now to make an impact.

In our 2025 NFL mock draft for Cleveland, after the Za’Darius Smith trade, we added an important offensive line piece. While the offensive line will need attention this offseason, if young Dawand Jones can show that he is solid at left tackle, it isn’t certain the team will need to use their first-round pick on the position.

Jones is a conundrum. Expected to be an early Day 2 selection in 2023, Jones slipped to the Browns in the fourth round after concerns about weight and work ethic persisted through the draft process. Forced into action quickly when Jack Conklin went down with an injury, Jones was a dominant force on the right side as a rookie.

In his second season, Jones was benched for poor performance as weight concerns resurfaced.

Due to injuries to Jedrick Wills, Cleveland gave Jones a chance at left tackle for the first time as a pro. Jones played on the left side early in his college career but his last two season at The Ohio State University were on the right side.

In two games at left tackle, Pro Football Focus gave Jones grades of 38.7 and 48.6. Along with the rest of the offensive line, Jones struggled as a run blocker in those two games but improved between weeks.

Now, with two weeks to settle into the position, HC Kevin Stefanski has named Jones the team’s starting left tackle. If Jones can solidify himself as even an average left tackle (which is solid given the difficulty of the position), Cleveland can approach next year’s offseason without having a big need at a huge position.

Depending on what the Browns do at quarterback (which will obviously be THE story of the offseason), having the left tackle position answered could allow GM Andrew Berry to select an impact player on the defensive line or wide receiver instead. It would also free Cleveland up to be a perfect trade-down candidate if the value is right.

A lot rides on what we see from Jones in the last eight games of the season.