DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2020 NFL Season 2020 NFL Draft Browns select Jedrick Wills with the 10th overall pick

Some draft picks have selected their numbers as of now.

https://www.si.com/nfl/browns/news/cleveland-browns-2020-nfl-draft-picks-announcing-jersey-numbers

Wills, 71
Delpit, 22
Phillips, 50
DPJ, 11

I like them ... 71 always reminds me of Rubin

After listening to J.Thomas talk technically about the position of LT and how Willis has the technical acumen for the position, how can you not like this pick!!

...says Hubbard's cap-friendly restructured contract in 2020 and in 2021

Browns LT Jedrick Wills Jr. will wear No. 71: ‘Starting my own legacy’
Browns new left tackle Jedrick Wills will wear No. 71: 'Starting my own legacy.'
2h ago

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2020/04...own-legacy.html

Browns LT Jedrick Wills Jr. will wear No. 71: ‘Starting my own legacy’
Updated 7:28 PM; Today 7:24 PM
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By Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com

Jedrick Wills Jr.® ➕🌎☄️💕
✔
@JWills73
Starting my own Legacy🐶 #71 #DawgPound #GrizzlySZN https://twitter.com/jwills73/status/1254855668411973632 …

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Jedrick Wills Jr.® ➕🌎☄️💕
✔
@JWills73
I’m announcing my new number at 6pm. What do you think I chose? #DawgPound

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6:01 PM - Apr 27, 2020
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns new left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. broke with tradition and chose No. 71 as his new number on Monday.

"Starting my own legacy,'' he proclaimed on Twitter and Instagram.

Wills, who wore 74 at Alabama, struck out on his own with 71 despite his new mentor Joe Thomas wearing No. 73, and his friend and mentor Doug Dieken wearing No. 73.

The two ironmen set records during their many years in Cleveland, with Thomas (2007-2017) setting the NFL’s snap streak with 10,363, the most since the league began recording them in 1999, and Dieken (1971-84) holds the record for most consecutive games played with 203.


Wills, who’s already enthusiastically embraced Thomas’ offer to help, also contemplated 72, but opted for 71.

He’s already gotten the seal of approval from Thomas, the future Hall of Famer.

“There will not be any sleeping for me tonight because I’m so excited by this pick,” Thomas told the Cleveland Browns Radio Network after the pick. “When I watch him on film, there’s nothing he can’t do. All these other guys who were the top tackles had big question marks, in my opinion. This guy? No question marks. Browns home run.

"There’s nothing that when you watch him on tape makes you go, 'Well, I don't know. He's going to have to get better at this,'" Thomas said. "Does this man move like an All-Pro in the NFL? Will the footwork skills, technique, quickness, balance, change of direction and recovery skills that he possesses in his body be able to hold up to the Von Millers and JJ Watts?


“I went back, and there was only one guy that stood out. He just popped off your screen. The technique he was using. The dominance. The finish. The change in direction. The explosion that he had. The way he could bend his ankles, knees and hips and create force and power. When guys tried to bull rush him, he was firm and stout.

“There was only one guy that looked like that, and that was Jedrick Wills.”

And now, he plans to make his own mark in No. 71.

Well I will not date myself but I think of Walter Johnson when I see #71... But he Wills lives up to that and beyond, I will get over it!!

I watched zero tape on any prospects this year. After drafting Wills I thought I would watch some tape on him to form my own impression. I think he will be a road grader in the run game. Will have to see how he transitions to the left side for pass protection game but he damn sure seems to check all the boxes.

Pretty high praise there from Thomas to Wills. Let’s hope JT’s eye for LT talent holds true

He is the best to wear it that I remember.

Man, Walter and Jerry Sherk. Now that was a pair of DT's. Maybe not like Rosie Greir and Melin Olsen, but those cats could play.

I am concerned as well, but I was encouraged by a talking head commenting on our selection that he played RT for a lefty QB, in effect a mirror image backside. So I believe a transition may be difficult and take a little longer, but the brain is wired, at least in part, already. But just to be the run blocking load he will be puts some of my concerns to rest. Hopefully the nature of our game on offense will change somewhat from the game called and planned under FK and Huey.

Personally, I would be more concerned in Wirfs' ability to switch to the left than I would be with Wills.

Didn't Tommy Vardell wear 44 when he was with the Browns ?

i think so

Ernest Byner wore 44 as well, at least in his 1st tour of duty in Cleveland.

Walter Johnson never got enough credit for being the block-eater and run-stopper that allowed Jerry Sherk to freelance and create mayhem in oppo backfields.

Loved Walter Johnson and Jerry Sherk

IIRC he was also purported to be the strongest man in the nfl at the time

I think I remember that. I also remember him dabbling at pro wrestling late in his career.

I don't care who all wore #44 it is Leroy Kelly's number, he is the one in the HOF ...

He picked #71.

You had a 50-50 shot. lol

I also remember a picture of him against the Bengals, going low and flipping a guy right over his back...never saw anything like it

I agree. They are different type players.

Joe was what I call a technical blocker. He had the form and was able to get in the way of a rusher. He was a pure LT. He wouldn't have had nearly the career hd he played RT. That is, for a lack of better words, a more physical position. Joe wasn't known for his physical presence.

Jed is a physical player. More the road grader type who also has enough of the technical game we hope he can play LT.

No matter where he ends up playing, we have a blocker who can block in both phases.

Great pick.

I agree he was a great pick. I also agree he "can be a road grater type". But his skill set certainly shows he has a great technical side as well. I feel his agility and technique are being vastly underrated.

No disagreement here. I think he is going to be able to switch with minimal problems.

I just don't buy that because he blocked Tua's blindside it won't take effort. Then again, maybe that is why Bama put him there.

I am extremely happy with what we did in the draft. You are always going to wonder about a pick or two, but my feeling at this point is we put this one about 20 rows over the left center wall.

I think with Joe tutoring him, his technique will be on a whole other level by 2021 season.

Heck, it will probably be better than ever this season, but given a year of working at it and refining things and he should be something amazing.

i agree. We have one of the best OL coaches and LT’s ever to play the game ... he’ll learn quite a bit

Wills is already a really good player. Even if he can't switch to the left side, we still have a really good player. Alabama has good coaching. Nick Saben isn't going to hire crappy Oline coaches. It's not like every good coach coaches in the NFL. If so, Saben would be in the NFL. Same for position coaches. College ball offers something the NFL doesn't. You don't have to put up with player crap, and you make about the same money, or good enough money.


That said, considering the resources we have to help the kid, he is going to end up a good LT. Maybe not Joe Thomas good, but Doug Dieken good.

My attitude is if you have a guy who can start for 15-20 teams in the league, you have few worries.

We might want the best player in the league, but you don't need the best player in the league. You just need solid to really solid. Wills will be that unless he gets lazy.

I think Joe the teacher gets overrated. I'm not sure the technique he used will work for Wills. I think he can be a resource on more general topics like attitude, preparation, film work, etc, but Joe's technique wasn't always the most traditional and worked more because he was a special player than due to textbook technique. I'm sure Joe T will have some tips and tricks, but I think the actual technique work should stick with Callahan. I think trying to imitate Joe has gotten some of our past prospects in trouble. Most players can't do it the way Joe did. I think Wills' game will be based more on power. They'll have to figure out what works best for him, not try to turn him into Joe.

As per Joe, Callahan and most OLine coaches will stick to teaching scheme and things as they relate to the scheme.

Joe's value isn't in his specific things, but his specific things as a generality along with all of the stuff you mentioned. Joe's approach to keeping notebooks every year for notes on things as he tries them out, etc... tips like hand placement (which in his own words, runs counter to what most OLine coaches will teach you), too. It's all about finding as many tiny little things that fit your body and then being consistent with them. One of Joe's greatest strengths was the fact that his flexibility allowed him to have the exact same set whether he was run or pass blocking. He never tipped our hand. The other guys might, but Joe didn't. Because of this, he also never showed where the play - or he - was going.

Joe has done the same work with Bitonio, Schwartz, and Mack. It's worked Ok for them.

I think Wirfs had the Track/Shotput and Wrestling background - not sure Wills did. Probably Basketball since both his parents had good basketball backgrounds.

Wills played basketball. He quit because wasn’t big enough.

I think Joe's technique was perhaps as sound as any guy I have ever watched. David DeCastro, the RG for the Steelers, is another guy w/outstanding technique.

What Joe will be valuable for, is ability to help Wills in preparing for and studying his opponent. If he can show him the proper way to prepare, that could be a very valuable asset for Wills. This kid is very young, teaching him proper preparation now will benefit him bigtime down the road.

Perfect footwork, nimble athlete, knew exactly when and where to attack a defender with his hands, never held.

Joe Thomas was one of a kind. I'm not sure if Wills will ever be close to Joe as a technician, but Wills has that natural raw power and mean streak to be a good one.

They need to retire the #73 jersey.

I've mentioned it before, JT is like a Zen Master of LT. He understands it in the most minute details, and when he did it, it was an artform.