Browns Fourth-Round Pick Needs to Step Up in 2025 originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
For all the quarterback trouble the Cleveland Browns have seen over recent seasons, let's put at least some of the blame on the offensive line in front of them.
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Last season alone, while the Browns were employing four different starters under center, the offensive line was responsible for a whopping 66 sacks. That was up from 45 sacks the season before, when Cleveland had five different starters.
The Browns spent a fourth-round pick on Ohio State offensive lineman Dawand Jones in 2023, and he's failed to catch on so far across two seasons with the Browns.
Pro Football Focus thinks that Jones is due for a make-or-break campaign next season.
"Jones played three games at [left tackle] last year before suffering a fractured fibula that ended his season," analyst Dalton Wasserman wrote on Tuesday. "Unfortunately, he earned a subpar 44.1 PFF overall grade across those three outings. Veteran Cornelius Lucas could fill in if Jones is either injured or ineffective again, but the Browns desperately need young talent to emerge on their offensive line, and Jones is the most likely incumbent candidate."
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After his rookie season, Jones was named the team's "most promising building block" heading into 2024 by Bleacher Report. He earned a 64.7 overall grade by Pro Football Focus for his efforts in his rookie season. But 2024 didn't go as planned.
The former Buckeyes tackle sustained a major injury in the Browns' Week 11 loss to the Saints, but even before the injury, Jones was not playing to the standard he set in his rookie year. Pro Football Focus scored him an unimpressive 46.4 overall for the time he was on the field.
The Cleveland offense was kind of a mess at that point, suffering from injuries to key players and from poor play at times. If Jones can completely recover and return to the play he displayed in 2023, he could help return the Browns' offensive line to the No. 2-ranked unit that it was in his rookie campaign.
