DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns News & Notes

I believe it was a quote from Miller.

Jack Conklin ‘ahead of schedule’ to start right away in 2022

By Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com
Feb 1, 2022

MOBILE, Ala. — The Browns will thoroughly scout the top tackles at the Senior Bowl, but right tackle Jack Conklin is “ahead of schedule” in his rehab from surgery to repair his torn patella tendon and on track to start the 2022 season, his agent Drew Rosenhaus told cleveland.com.

“Jack is doing great,’’ Rosenhaus said, adding that he’s ‘absolutely’ expected to be read to start the season.

Rosenhaus said Conklin, who suffered the injury Nov. 28 against the Ravens, is rehabbing in Cleveland and doing even better than anticipated at this point. That’s great news for the Browns, who struggled down the stretch without their two-time All-Pro right tackle, including Baker Mayfield getting sacked nine times by the Steelers in Week 17.

If the Browns can count on Conklin, who also missed games this season with a knee injury and dislocated elbow, from the beginning of the season, they might not have to add a starting-caliber tackle. Recovery from a torn patella tendon can take six to 12 months, but Conklin is apparently on the short end of that.

The Browns’ fourth-round pick in 2021, James Hudson III, will be called upon to take a big step up in 2022 as their swing tackle.

In the meantime, the Browns will study and interview offensive linemen here such as highly rated Bernhard Raimann of Central Michigan.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/20...tions-on-the-table-browns-takeaways.html

*Note: I assume the word "read" in the second sentence of the story should be "ready". Copy editing seems to be a casualty in the age of internet publishing.

That is fantastic news. If it works out, that makes our offseason much less complicated.

Yeah, that's true, but I worry about him. The guy always seems to get injured.

He had an ACL tear in the 2017 playoffs, and then another knee injury the next year. That's it, other than the stuff this year (the knee(s) for him might be becoming an issue).

aye so what are we thinking about Wills Jr?

is he somebody we can rely on for the next 10 years or do we have to start considering upgrades along the line?

The only caveat I'd place on the Conklin news is that it is his agent talking, and you would expect him to paint a rosy picture about his client's condition.

swish...Wills has to rank as one of the worst LTs in the NFL and unless he dedicates himself to conditioning and working in the weight room to get stronger..he might not be a starter.

Against LasVegas, the Browns had to shuffle their OLine, using two backups and moving Bitonio to LT, this was the OLine starting unit...
Michael Dunn OG
Blake Hance OG
Joel Bitonio G
Wyatt Teller G
J.C. Tretter C

Nick Mullens QB

This group didn't allow a sack..so the Browns do have options if Wills doesn't want to do the work to keep his starting job.

Wills might be a better option as a fill-in at OG and RT.

Wills is good enough where you have to extend him and bad enough where you don’t feel great about the extension. He’s also only two years into his career, made a huge position change, and played hobbled in year two. I’d expect 2022 to be his best year if healthy.

j/c:



This should get some of you to pucker up like a snare drum.

SMOKESCREEN!

Swish IMO We will know more about Willis after his 3rd season. He played a new position his rookie year. He played on a bum knee for most of last season. He has one more season to prove himself either way.

It's gotta be hard on the joints being the size and height that he is. Thanks for providing that info. I don't know why...I thought he missed several games for us in 2020 as well.

I didn't include missed starts due to COVID or concussion (I think I read he had one, but I don't remember if it was here or Tenn).

I was under the impression he was pretty durable and just had a weird season (elbow then immediately knee injury), but it seems like knee issues could be an emerging trend.

It was an ankle.

I am wondering if Wills would be a good replacement for Conklin at RT, and we think about getting a LT?

Hearing Conklin is ahead of schedule, and seeing him on the field, are 2 different things. Hoping he recovers, but can't count on it long-term.

I find the Wills thinking rather odd. He did pretty well as a rookie at the LT spot. This year he battled an ankle injury most of the season. For some reason I don't think Wills forgot how to play LT during the off season. He is certainly not Joe Thomas. But he is also certainly athletic enough to have improved in his second year, not declined. I think we should take a step back on a guy who struggled with an injury all season and see what he brings to the table next season.

I mean that's what a lot of us say about Baker so I don't think we should be in the position of using a double standard as it applies to injuries. A LT's footwork is as critical to his position as Baker's injury is to to the QB position.

Agreed 100% - I *believe* that Wills was the best graded LT from his draft class. I think his issues this year are mostly because of injury and playing through injury.

Me too. With the injury, there is simply not enough info to make a good decision, or even judge his upside, until during or after this season.

It's interesting the Wills gets a pass for playing through injury, but there is about 50 pages worth of Baker related pages that cannot arrive at the same conclusion.

It like Myles having no sacks late in the season due to the groin....

I'm not seeing where you get your "50 pages worth" from. There are a few select posters that try to downplay Baker's injury this season but the vast majority take it into account and feel he should get next season in order to see what a healthy Baker will bring to the table.

I certainly understand how the injury to his shoulder impacted his play negatively. I'm not sure it explains everything we saw but I certainly want to see a healthy Baker on the field next season in order to find out.

Many people think that Baker’s performance is attributed somewhat to his injury and mostly to his inability to find receivers which had nothing to do with his injury.

He was injured this year and probably should not have been playing, how soon you haters forget that last year (2020) Baker Mayfield led this franchise to its first winning season since 2007 our first playoff appearance since 2002 our first playoff win since 1994 and our first road playoff win since 1969 in Dallas nuff said!!!!

Haters = People who think we can do better

Scroll down a bit, there are 9 Baker threads so far ending with the off season Baker, add the Stefanski getting rid of Baker to that hot mess. Roughly 8 pages per thread.

Insert beating a dead horse graphic... It is nauseating.

I'll believe it when I see him on the field with full team drill participation and not on a pitch count.
Hope is not a plan.

Get another OT because Hudson cannot hold down that spot.

Sounds crazy, but long-range, Wills might be well-suited as a swing tackle, and shop for a "better" LT, veteran maybe or draft. Hudson is not the answer. We have proven with injuries that we have regular and ongoing need for OL. Bitonio should not be forced into this problem as the cure going forward. That plan, where a star player will not play his strongest position sounds dumber than I believe, especially for a run strength team. Again, not Hudson, please.

I agree on half, and to pick on something MKC said, you should always be looking for starting caliber players. As for Hudson, I am not ready to say he can't hold a spot down even if he did look pretty bad last year.

I wonder what folks around here would have said about Wyatt Teller after his rookie season?

I'll gladly eat my words if Hudson miraculously pulls the same level of turnaround that Teller did, but I think we all know that Teller is the exception. Guys generally don't go from struggling to hold ground and getting blown up to suddenly being one of the absolute most dominating at their position in a single offseason. That is exceptionally uncommon and shouldn't be expected.

Now, will eight months eating and training like a professional benefit Hudson? Absolutely. He has a lot of time to get a lot stronger and work on a lot of technique, but to think he'll be able to step into Conklin's shoes is a stretch. I think his ceiling, right now, is as our Swing Tackle and filling Hubbard's shoes. That in and of itself would be a HUGE leap for him, and very welcomed.

IMO, we only really got into trouble this year when both of our tackle spots were being manned by backups. I think it's approaching reasonable for Hudson to be able to fill in for Hubbard, and if that's the case I don't see why he can't man that tackle spot for a couple games while Conklin finishes up his rehab.

I worry about adding yet another starter-caliber need to the list (WR (x2?), DT, TE(?), DE(?)). That's a lot when we know we're going to get an elite guy back very soon.

The biggest jump in player proficiency is between year 1 and year 2.

It is a now a full time job, and the player can take the time to condition himself work with coaches.

Hudson was drafted as a project, and ideally would have not seen the field last year. But that was not the reality.

Some players do better than others, and I hope Hudson improves.

When healthy, Conklin is the best we've had since Mitchell Schwartz or Ryan Tucker. He's the real deal.
Unless his knee was misreported as a rupture and was really just a minor/partial tear, I find it not quite believable that he's on track to be back on the field, full-go, in six months.
I'd be quite happy to be wrong, though. Still, he's at the older end of the spectrum and entering the last year of his deal... you KNOW he and his agent are feeling the pressure to guarantee he's back out there on the field, even if he goes back too soon.

That's my boy and he is still very raw .. Big up-side .

i hope so. im just trying to move on from this season and focused on the next one i guess. im assuming baker and most of our starters on offense and defense come back. trying my best to really chalk it up to injuries and covid and get into being positive for the team.

we still have a young squad, but im just really hoping it is just injuries for the browns, and not that we're once again losing ground to other teams.

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/spor...-browns-brian-flores-lawsuit/6653752001/

Has Jimmy Haslam ever said anything this interesting?