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Saw this online.. whatcha all think?

IMO there are 3 grades that matter.. Below NFL Average, NFL Average and Above NFL Average. I think Jed here is between the middle and the top. In other words NFL Average+

Jedrick Wills’ future
By May 1, the Browns must decide whether to pick up the fully-guaranteed fifth-year option for 2024 on left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. Based on the formula used for those options, picking up the option on Wills would cost the Browns $14.175 million for 2024.

Berry cited his personal policy of not publicly discussing contract issues in declining to disclose the Browns’ plans, but he echoed Stefanski’s previous sentiments in saying the Browns believe 2022 was Wills’ best season after two different ankle injuries limited Wills’ effectiveness in 2021.

“I think in the moment, in the season, you felt (good about Wills) because he was healthy and was playing well,” Stefanski said. “But as you go back and watch a lot of the tape over and over, he’s doing a nice job in the run game and the pass game. He’s winning his one-on-one matchups. Never perfect because it’s hard to be perfect as a left tackle in this game. But he played well. I really think, if he stays healthy, the trajectory continues to ascend.”

If the Browns pick up Wills’ option — and it feels like a near-certainty that they will — they won’t necessarily plug a cap charge of more than $14 million into their 2024 planning. They could still sign Wills to a long-term extension before the option year kicks in, and the Browns generally have back-loaded those second contracts to reduce the first-year cap charge. Given the team’s cap situation, that might be a necessity, though it’s too early to know for sure.

Wills is plenty good enough to win with.
He is in a very similar boat to that which Mitchell Schwartz was in that his biggest problem is that he isn't Joe Thomas, and you never want to have to be the guy stuck following The Guy.

Wills is a good enough LT for this team with the talent they have around him. I would not pick up the 5th year option but would try to sign him to a long-term contract at a reasonable cost. If he does not sign it then work on replacing him.

-->PICK NO. 4: NEW YORK GIANTS: T ANDREW THOMAS

• PFF grade, 2020-22: 80.8 (22nd/223)

• PFF WAR, 2020-22: 0.63 (13th)

-->PICK NO. 10: CLEVELAND BROWNS: T JEDRICK WILLS JR.

• PFF grade, 2020-22: 64.0 (105/223)

• PFF WAR, 2020-22: -0.12 (200th)

-->PICK NO. 11: NEW YORK JETS: T MEKHI BECTON

• PFF grade, 2020-22: 74.6 (44th/223)

• PFF WAR, 2020-22: 0.08 (66th)

-->PICK NO. 13: TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: T TRISTAN WIRFS

• PFF grade, 2020-22: 88.6 (4th/223)

• PFF WAR, 2020-22: 0.98 (2nd)

I agree w/Day that signing Wills to a multi-year contract would be the best course of action.

Isn't Wills still pretty young? He will be a year away from some nagging injuries, I feel he will improve. I would sign him also.

Nothing wrong with Jed.

I'm pro having a good Left Tackle.
I wonder how Wills and Hudson are doing.

Do you play to win or just to take the field.

Nothing special with Jed either...and that with the best OL coach in the league. I think he'd get more slack if he wasn't a top 1st Rd pick...serviceable isn't what we needed from such an investment.

j/c,

Giving Wills that 5th year option could be the difference in keeping players like Nick Chubb and or Amari Cooper for the 2024 season and in less we win the 🏆 this year then that would really hurt our chances for 2024.

See trees ... see forsest💡

IMO we should to find his replacement this year to be ready to take over LT the next season.

Some folks just want to hold on I get that ... but Jed will never live up to his draft position, nor will he ever be more than average (which is debatable in itself) at best.

There's only a couple of problems with that. For one the browns don't have a pick until round three. Finding an upgrade in the draft in round three isn't something I think the odds dictate is worth pursuing. The price for an upgrade at the LT position on the FA market isn't financially favorable either.

I think it will all come down to what Callahan thinks of Wills. I mean I think it will be him to make the decision if it's the nagging injuries that have been holding Wills back or if it's his skill set.

Jed's skill set has never been his problem.

Laziness?

Once a player is on the team, draft position doesn't matter. I think he is better than serviceable, but even then, that is all one can expect.

Just because a guy is a 1st round pick doesn't mean he is going to be great, nor should one expect that. You may want that but wants and reality are two different things.

You'll be better off dealing with who and what he is rather than holding him to some expectation. If we can replace him with someone better, great, but for the here and now he is good enough. I don't see any great need in replacing him any time soon.

I mentioned this some time back, and Purp mentioned it in this thread, Wills biggest problem is he followed Joe Thomas. It's rare in any sport that the player who follows a legend ever matches up, but they are always compared to that all-time great rather than simply a good player.

I think you summed that up quite nicely.

So...I should just forget/discount his draft position and instead look at who he replaced? I stated ^ that had he not been drafted in the top of the 1st Rd he'd get more slack...but that wouldn't change the fact that he's barely an average LT. Same goes for those expecting HOF play from him because we got that from the last guy. I'd argue that you and I are making the same point.

The issue is that he's just serviceable...and is about to get a $15 MM extension for his 5th year. Serviceable does not equal $15MM...but that's what we are looking at. What would he be without the tutelage of Callahan? He is the weak link on the OL chain and at the most important of the (5) starting spots...regardless of where he was drafted or who played the position before him.

And "NO" I'm not suggesting they cut him...but I'd be looking all around to upgrade that guy before I give him $15MM.

I wonder how many young, really good, and inexpensive LTs are available in any given year?

$15,000,000 is hardly inexpensive.

No kidding?

Maybe you should make a list of available LTs that are young, inexpensive, and better than Wills. We could start there and discuss who should replace Wills.

LT's are probably the most important AND expensive position next to the QB. Wills will be expensive but I really doubt we can find anyone at this point to replace him. He still is young and has room to improve. He's also been injured.

Just my $0.02 worth .....

I think that Wills is an average LT, at his very best. I hate to see us sign him long term if many guarantees are included.

Then maybe you can explain what it was Wills is responsible for that caused the Browns to lose. Myles was also playing during this time period. Is it also you supposition that we don't know if Myles is good enough to win with?

Who was our LT when we won 12 games and had a playoff victory? I thought it was Wills? Am I mistaken?

We won more games on average per season with Wills at LT than we did when Joe Thomas was playing LT. According to mac I guess maybe Joe Thomas wasn't good enough to win with either.

You keep ignoring that Wirfs plays RT. Wills plays LT. The right side of the OL is typically the "Strong Side." You do know what that means, right? You have no proof that Wirfs would play as well on the left side as he does on the right. Or that Wills would not play better at RT than he does at LT. I'm not claiming that either would, but we just don't know.

I think Wirfs is a very good player. I do not think Wills is a bust.

Wills had a pretty good rookie year, an injury-riddled second year, and a mixed-bag in terms of performance his third year.

I don't know how I feel about Wills. The minute I'm down on him, he'll have a good game. The minute I'm thinking he is becoming more consistent in his play, he has a terrible game. And by good or terrible, I'm particularly focusing on the pass protection game. His run blocking (good or bad) is not as important to me as the pass protection.

Overall, the biggest concern I see as a regular fan is his motor, drive, passion, whatever one wants to call it. Many times, it feels like you get 2-3 good seconds out of Wills each play. After that....meh. It looks like, at times, he just stops playing, as if the whistle was blown.

If anything, I don't question is talent but more his work ethic.

He hasn't been consistent. As in, consistently good or consistently bad. I think he has lapses in concentration. Wonder if he was ever diagnosed w/ADD?

I am fine with picking Wills option up. I would also be happy with resigning him. 15 mil isn’t bad at all. He’s what 23 or 24 years old, tons of room to grow and a good time to take advantage contract wise.

My thought process for negotiating a long term contract with the agent: he isn’t a superstar or top 5 in the league, so that would be a point to hit with the agent. We know what we have with Wills at this point in time with his play, BUT we also see that talent/potential of what he could be in the future. Does this sound familiar (Njoku)? We won’t low-ball you, b/c of his current play. What will do though is pay a little more than he’s currently/projected worth based on his future potential.

I would be surprised if we let him go after this year. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, the FO and staff know what we have in him and what his ceiling can be. Finding his replacement in FA would probably more expensive, older in age, and the staff won’t know what they are getting from the player till he gets on the field and work with him. Finding a Pocic in FA isn’t the norm.

We don’t have a high draft pick, even if we did, we just created another hole (with the release of Wills) that needs to be filled by an unknown draft pick. What you do is re-sign Wills and draft a mid-round project to sit and mold into a possible starter for the future.

Re-signing Wills shouldn’t be that expensive and in a few years the contract will look cheap compared to others.


Here are the LT contracts, 15 mil isn’t that expensive.
LT contracts

This is how I feel and why I would want to re-sign him. We don’t see him every day. I don’t know him personally.

But as a generalization of what’s in front of me and I see, work ethic and that drive to be great can be changed. That’s what keeps me intrigued about him. Maybe it’s a mature thing, maybe it’s just who he is. It’s up to the staff and his teammates to get that drive (work ethic) out of him.

It's a tough call and I understand the good and the bad that comes w/Wills. My tipping point in keeping him is that it is incredibly hard to find adequate LTs. That's why I asked WSU to comprise a list, earlier. There won't be a list because they are hard to find.

I am not all that educated on contracts in regards to what a NFL team should do, but I'm kind of leaning on reworking his deal to a multi-year deal where we can backload the contract and move on if it becomes necessary. I think I would prefer that over picking up his option and paying him $15 million. I could be persuaded to change my mind if someone has a good argument.

Lackadaisical....

Understood. I am in-align with your thinking.

I agree about the good/bad with him.

I think the picking up the option is a no brainer. But…it’s not my first option. That would be to sign him to a multi-year deal. Like you, I am not educated on contracts. But what I do believe and have seen in our sports teams with the Guardians, Bonefish and his Braves and through our Browns you try to lock them up early. I am aware that baseball and football contracts are different. But that’s how you keep key pieces at a reasonable price.

Two things

- if we go the picking up the option route and he has and above average or a breakout year: the chances or possibility of him wanting to test the waters (FA) will be higher, because other teams would offer more. In turn, we would have to offer top LT money to try to keep him. Which isn’t good with the make up of our team and contracts.

- If we lock him up now and he has a breakout year…well, this should benefit our team and the contract “should” be reasonable. Or if he plays similar to now, then he’s still not breaking the bank.

I know there are so many variables involved, it’s definitely not cut and dry decision. It can definitely backfire, but like you said backloading would be a good idea or adding incentives. I trust Berry to figure it out, he’s done a great job

I hope my point was clear, explaining to verbally would be 10 times easier, lol. I would go more in-depth with the explanation, but I really need to get out out of the house and to the beach now, haha.

Nice post. I think it's important to our overall consideration that you posted this part:



Enjoy the beach, you blankety blank.

There are a few themes with this FO and the Sashi regime, which oddly enough, included Berry. One of those themes is drafting younger players w/ perceived upside. Wills is 23 years old going into his 4 year in the NFL. This is a very similar situation to Njoku, IMO. Epecially as it relates to this board's quick opinion to 100% write off young players if they struggle in any way early.

Anyways, I want to pick up his option and ride out the next two seasons. If he matures and plays more consistently, we might have something.

If I recall, there was a 4 player group that played a lot at tackle, between Conklin, Wills, and 2 others, the veteran former steeler and the young one who left for the titans. It ended up a lot of 'by committee" whoever was healthy each week.
edit: Chris Hubbard, and Kendall Lamm,
between those 4 and Alex ? they used a lot of '3 tackles in the game for that snap' plays, and other things. I think Hubbard was actually the Gel that year, imo.

Thanks, it was great lol

Absolutely Memphis. That’s where my opinion/conclusion comes from. Njoku is the prime example.

Adding on to your draft comment, this is why he drafts someone like Alex Wright. Young, small college (UAB), excellent talent on the charts in those middle rounds. His plan isn’t for him to start right away. It’s for him to sit behind Clooney/Garrett and rotate in a few snaps and gain experience. In the coming off season, build strength and be prepared for future years. The issue was Clowney was out multiple games and Wright had to start. Which can be a good or bad thing depending on the player. Like you said about writing off players, in those scenarios the staff (which I’m sure they understood, compared to the fan base) have to have patience with the growth of the player and build upon those experiences.