Browns Viewed As Frontrunners For DL Dre’Mont Jones

MARCH 13: The Browns are believed to be the favorites for Jones, Troy Renck of Denver7 tweets. The Cleveland native has stayed in touch with the Broncos, per Renck, but they have devoted a chunk of their cap space to fortifying their offensive line. Denver’s big deals for Mike McGlinchey and Ben Powers could end up with Jones in Cleveland.

MARCH 12: Dre’Mont Jones is in line to be one of the top free agents in the 2023 class, meaning he will surely have a number of suitors. A homecoming could be in the cards for the defensive tackle.

Jones, a Cleveland native, is squarely on the Browns’ radar, per Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. Cabot adds that the Browns were high on him following his college career at Ohio State, one which has translated to consistent production at the NFL level. Jones has racked up 22 sacks in four seasons with the Broncos.

That has, to no surprise, made him a priority for Denver as they look to keep a number of members of their defense in the fold. The 26-year-old has made it clear, however, that he will test the open market, and Denver will face stiff competition from several teams looking to upgrade their defensive fronts. Cleveland certainly qualifies as one such team, after they allowed an average of 135 yards per game on the ground in 2022.

New defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is known for high-end play amongst his defensive linemen, so a deal sending Jones back to Ohio would mark a solid scheme fit as well. Mutual interest appears to exist between both team and player in this situation, given some of Jones’ remarks about his pending decision and Cleveland’s reported desire to sign him.

“It’s really exciting,” the former third-round pick said, via Cabot. “It’s an honor to have your hometown team be interested in you. So that alone, I appreciate it.” Jones added that he has remained a lifelong Browns fan, and would, to little surprise, be enticed by the prospect of playing on a defensive front which already features All-Pro edge rusher Myles Garrett.

The Browns are one of a half-dozen teams still with work to do in the next few days to become cap compliant. That suggests they may not be able to win a bidding war for Jones, something which could very well take place given his status as one of the top free agents at any position, and the spike in the DT market which could be coming after Daron Payne‘s $90MM extension agreed to earlier today. Still, he figures to be one of Cleveland’s top targets as they look to re-tool on defense over the course of the offseason.