This week marks the return of Deshaun Watson under center when the Cleveland Browns host the Dallas Cowboys. The player that protects Watson’s blindside, however, is a key question mark heading into their opener Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX).
Left tackle Jedrick Wills, who missed the last half of the 2023 season after right MCL surgery, was not at practice Monday. Could right tackle Jack Conklin make his own return in a different spot against Micah Parsons?
“It really does feel like that right now,” said longtime beat writer Mary Kay Cabot on Cleveland.com’s video report Monday. “It’s actually pretty remarkable that Jack Conklin is going to be out there considering that he blew out that knee in Week 1 of last year. So kudos to Jack for working so hard and being able to get back and fill in at left tackle.”
As Cabot reported, the absence of Wills is a mystery. Most observers expected him to return in spring organized team activities or, at worst, the Monday practice six days prior to the 2024 opener against Dallas.
Conklin, a two-time All-Pro entering his ninth NFL season, is comfortable moving to left tackle, where he made 35 of 38 starts at Michigan State. And his neighbor on the Browns’ offensive line, right guard Wyatt Teller, is confident should Cleveland need to start Conklin there again Sunday.
“I mean, Jack has played next to me for, what is it? Four years going on five years?” Teller said after Monday’s practice, per Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon-Journal. “So, yeah, but I know that he’s getting out there, getting to move around, stuff like that. But I guess if whatever positions he’s at, if he was playing right guard, it’d be a little different other than right tackle.”
The Browns last week activated Wills from physically unable to perform (PUP) and listed him on their initial 53-man roster, but with each passing day, Conklin looks like the plan.
Whoever will start at left tackle, don’t expect Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski to confirm it with Tom Brady, at least directly. Brady, who will make his debut as FOX’s top color analyst in Cleveland Sunday, is a potential minority owner (and/or quarterback) of the Las Vegas Raiders. As ESPN’s Seth Wickersham reported last week, the NFL has restricted Brady from entering team facilities, attending practices and gathering information at exclusive production meetings with coaches and players.