What will go into moving Jedrick Wills Jr. from right tackle to left for Browns?Jedrick Wills
By Tom Reed
Apr 21, 2020
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Grab a toothbrush, apply some paste and begin your normal cleaning routine. (Don’t forget the gumline, kids.) Now, take the toothbrush in the opposite hand and repeat the process.
It feels a bit awkward, right? The technique a little sloppy.
What does good dental hygiene have to do with trying to convert a right tackle to a left tackle? You might be surprised.
“I don’t do this with everybody, but there are times I will have a guy do that or pick up objects with their hand that isn’t dominant,” said Duke Manyweather, an offensive line scouting and development consultant. “It’s just a little thing that helps wake up that side of the brain.”
Baker Mayfield will need more than ambidextrous tooth brushers to keep T.J. Watt out of his grill this season. But every tip and tweak is likely appreciated by offensive tackle candidates looking to fill a hole on the left side of the Browns’ line.
Cleveland holds the No. 10 overall pick in the NFL Draft, which opens Thursday night. The club clearly has a need at left tackle, and there are four enticing first-round options: Jedrick Wills Jr. (Alabama), Tristan Wirfs (Iowa), Mekhi Becton (Louisville) and Andrew Thomas (Georgia). (Editor’s note: Wills was drafted by the Browns with their first-round pick Thursday night)
But Wills and Wirfs were primarily right tackles in college. Is there significant risk in drafting a player that high and switching him to the other side of the formation?
It depends on whom you ask.
“Can you switch from right to left tackle? Yes, you can,” said Manyweather, who’s worked with NFL standouts such as Lane Johnson and Trent Brown. “Is it easy? No, it is not. Especially when you have volume accumulation on one side.”
Former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, who played six NFL seasons, agrees with Manyweather.
“Moving Wills or Wirfs to left tackle is scary in my opinion because there’s a reason they weren’t there in college,” Schwartz said. “You can argue Wills wasn’t (moved) because Tua (Tagovailoa) is left-handed and they wanted him protecting Tua’s blindside. … (But) I don’t really know if that’s the way you want to do this. Becton and Thomas might be better options.”
Future Hall of Famer Joe Thomas, whose retirement following the 2017 season created the Browns’ void at left tackle, believes it takes about three months of training to make the conversion. Becton would be his first choice, but, he added, the lack of game experience on the left side shouldn’t be a deal breaker for Browns management.
“I would have zero concerns for Wirfs or Wills making the switch,” Thomas wrote in a text message to The Athletic several weeks ago.
A year ago, the Browns were one of the NFL’s most hyped teams heading into the draft. Mayfield and running back Nick Chubb were coming off excellent rookie seasons. The club acquired receiver Odell Beckham Jr., adding to an offensive arsenal that contributed to seven wins in 2018.
But the Browns crumbled under the weight of expectations. Multiple factors contributed to a 6-10 record that cost John Dorsey and Freddie Kitchens their jobs. Mayfield regressed in his second season in part because of his lack of trust in the offensive line, specifically at the two tackle positions.
Andrew Berry, the club’s new head of football operations, quickly addressed right tackle needs in free agency by adding Jack Conklin. In a recent conference call, Berry was asked about shifting offensive linemen from one side to another to fill positions.
“From my perspective, tackles are tackles,” he said. “In terms of guys making the switch, certainly, there is an element of muscle memory that needs to be reprogrammed, so to speak, for people who have played one side or the other for a long period of time. If you look, Jack Conklin was a college left tackle that has been a pretty well-accomplished right tackle in our league.”
Schwartz is familiar with another such story. His brother, Mitchell, played left tackle at Cal before blossoming into a stud right tackle with the Browns and the Chiefs, with whom he won a Super Bowl last season.
The transition from left to right seems to have a higher success rate, Geoff Schwartz said, in part because right tackles don’t need as much athleticism at the NFL level. While it’s true pro defenses have moved their best pass rushers all over the formation in recent years — think of Von Miller’s versatility in Denver — left tackles remain the most important position on the offensive line. They often protect the quarterback’s blindside in a predominantly right-handed throwing league.
“It’s not as much now, but the left tackle is still typically more athletic than the right tackle,” Geoff Schwartz said. “There is a reason they go from left (in college) to right in the NFL and not as much the other way around.”
Manyweather is a big proponent of “cross-training” pupils. Whether working with tackles or guards, he drills them on the left and right sides. The purpose is getting both body and mind out of their comfort zones.
One of Manyweather’s best success stories is Trent Brown, who’s made the transition on multiple occasions during his five seasons with San Francisco, New England and Oakland.
“From a biomechanics standpoint, it helps balance out the body,” said Manyweather of his cross-training approach. “If you take a guy on the right side and expect him to be the same all-world player on the left side, you are doing him a disservice. Can he be good? Of course he can, but it takes a lot.
“Set points change, where you need to expand to at the top of the rush changes, the overall footwork … it is completely backward.”
Manyweather would like to see Wills remain on the right side.
“I think he’s going to be a very good pro,” he said. “I can see him becoming a dominant right tackle. I wouldn’t switch him to the left side. I think you would be doing the kid a disservice. If you draft him, let him eat where he’s hunted at for the past couple years.”
There are examples of tackles moving from right to left early in their careers and flourishing as blindside protectors. The most obvious is two-time All-Pro Tyron Smith of the Cowboys. Smith is among the outliers, however.
Manyweather, Schwartz and former longtime NFL offensive line coach Paul Alexander agree the earlier a player makes the transition, the better the chance for success.
One mistake some teams make is trying to move a player in season or during training camp from one side to the other.
“You don’t have enough time to practice it,” Thomas wrote.
“It’s a learned skill, not genetic right/left hand (kind of thing). So it’s just a matter of the reps at the other side needed to get comfortable.”
Tristan Wirfs of Iowa is expected to be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft. (Justin Hayworth / Associated Press)
Geoff Schwartz seldom had trouble practicing at left guard. He knew the assignments. He could get into the sets. Taking meaningful reps in two regular-season games, however, short-circuited his brain.
“I couldn’t play left guard worth a damn in the NFL when I was put there,” he said. “Practice? I was fine. But in a game my hands and footwork weren’t in sync. Then, you start to revert back to what you know. … When I would get my hands on someone, my feet switched back to playing right guard.”
Alexander watched Panthers offensive lineman Daryl Williams, who recently signed with Buffalo, endure similar struggles last season. Tackle blocking is an “inside hands activity,” Alexander explained.
“You control the inside pad of the rusher with your inside hand,” he said. “The outside hand is used as a guide hand to ward off the defender or to slow him down and control him or hook him. A lot of guys will switch from right (tackle) to left (tackle) without learning how to switch hands.
“(Williams) kept trying to block guys with his left hand. That’s what you do as a right tackle.”
Complicating issues this offseason is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has limited interactions and scrubbed private workouts. Obviously, coaches can learn only so much from putting players through drills in a single workout, but it supplies position coaches with valuable intel.
Alexander was given a hypothetical situation. How would he react to his team wanting to select a Wills or Wirfs and switching him to left tackle without the luxury of a private workout?
“If they were to come to me and say, ‘Hey, Paul, how do you feel about that,’ I would say I don’t feel good about that at all,” Alexander said. “In the first round, you cannot miss. Why not take a real left tackle? I would take Becton or Thomas or trade back and take (Josh) Jones (from the University of Houston).”
Some believe the Browns are considering trading back to select Ezra Cleveland of Boise State.
“I like him,” Alexander said. “He’s got a chance, but he has some major technical development ahead of him.”
In media conference calls, Berry and Paul DePodesta sound as if they are taking a longer view with the franchise’s approach, not expecting an immediate impact from their draft picks. But given Mayfield’s regression and the glaring need at left tackle, can the Browns afford patience in this circumstance?
The disclosure of Becton’s flagged drug test at the combine adds another layer to their decision. “I’m not going to comment on specifics for individual guys, but we’ll take all information into consideration,” Berry said Monday.
Trading for Redskins veteran tackle Trent Williams remains an option. So does signing 38-year-old Jason Peters. There’s much to consider with the draft rapidly approaching.
Experts interviewed for this story all agree the Browns made a wise choice in hiring Bill Callahan as their offensive line coach and adding Scott Peters as his assistant. Their experience could prove invaluable in preparing a young left tackle for a potential abbreviated run-up to the regular season.
“The unknowns with this offseason could be a challenge for some teams, but with Bill Callahan and Scott Peters, I don’t care who you guys end up drafting, they will have that guy ready to go,” said Manyweather, who has been training Becton. “Bill Callahan is one of the best offensive line coaches in the league. He’s a grinder. He’s a hard-ass coach who gets the most out of his players.”
With social distancing still recommended and no timetable set for a return to practice, draft choices must continue to train on their own.
Is the extended period a benefit or detriment for offensive tackles looking to transition from right to left? Time will tell.
Until then, keep brushing those teeth with both hands.
https://theathletic.com/1760974/202...jr-from-right-tackle-to-left-for-browns/ 
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