Browns T Dawand Jones Agrees To Take Pay Cut
Coming into the final year of his rookie contract, Browns offensive tackle Dawand Jones has agreed to a pay cut in a restructured deal proposed by the team. Jones was originally due to receive $3.67MM in 2026, though none of it was guaranteed. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, he is now set to play for $1.5MM this year with $1.15MM guaranteed. The Browns get some cap relief, and Jones gets some guaranteed money.
As a rookie fourth-round pick in 2023, Jones was forced into a starting role very early when starting right tackle Jack Conklin went down with a season-ending injury in Week 1. As he grew more comfortable in the role, Jones showed some inspired play as a rookie starter, giving hope that Cleveland had found a diamond in the Day 3 rough, but his season ended after 13 weeks when he, too, suffered an injury that would hold him out for the remainder of the year.
Jones opened up his sophomore campaign as the starting right tackle but didn’t hold the position down nearly as well as he had in Year 1. He also fell short of full season for the second time in two years, undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a fractured ankle from the team’s Week 11 contest that year. He also underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his knee for an issue he had reportedly been playing through in 2024. Regardless, Jones opened up the 2025 season as the Browns starting left tackle, but for the third year in a row, his season ended with surgery, this time to address a knee injury suffered just three weeks into the season.
The Browns made a similar cost-cutting move with running back Jerome Ford in 2025. Ford had carried a big role in prior seasons, but the use of high draft picks on rookie rushers Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson meant that Ford’s hold on a continued significant role was in jeopardy; similarly this year, the team used a first- and third-round pick on Jones’ position. Getting Ford onto a restructured deal allowed the team to reduce his cap impact while giving him some guaranteed money that he otherwise might have missed out on if cut.
ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi pointed out that Cleveland has played this card before with multiple fourth-year players who received Proven Performance Escalators, bonuses awarded to non-first-round picks to compensate them for contributions beyond the expectations assumed based on their draft status. He also notes that wide receiver Cedric Tillman and defensive end Isaiah McGuire classified for Level One PPE and will be due $3.6MM non-guaranteed salaries in 2026, as well. With the Browns utilizing first- and second-round picks on Tillman’s position, he could be the next target for such a restructured deal.
Browns’ New-Look OL Taking Shape
The Browns fielded one of the league’s oldest offensive lines last season, but the unit will look very different in 2026. How different remains to be seen – the starting five has started to take shape but is far from finalized.
General manager Andrew Berry said (via cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot) that the left tackle spot is currently occupied by 2023 fourth-rounder Dawand Jones. The 24-year-old has lined up at both tackle positions during his time in Cleveland with 20 total starts. He opened the 2025 season as the starting left tackle but was benched in Week 3.
The Browns’ draft plans could push Jones out of the picture. They are expected to pursue an offensive tackle with one of their two first-round picks, but several top prospects lined up on the right side in college. Cleveland may prefer keeping a rookie at their natural position and flipping Tytus Howard from right to left tackle.
The Browns have multiple options on the interior after signing Elgton Jenkins and Zion Johnson in free agency. Both have spent the most time at left guard, but Jenkins can play center, too. Teven Jenkins would then play right guard.
Again, Cleveland’s draft haul could factor in here. Adding a pure center could bump Elgton Jenkins to either guard spot with Johnson taking up the other. Berry also said that the door is still open for Joel Bitonio, who is contemplating retirement after 12 years as Cleveland’s starting left guard. If he returned, he would retain that job, keeping Jenkins at center and moving Johnson to right guard, where he lined up as a rookie.
The Browns have prioritized versatility in their offensive line room. They have multiple starting options at every position except center, and they will likely add at least one more player to the mix in the draft. Then, it will be up to new head coach Todd Monken to identify the best five-man combination by Week 1.
Browns Rumors: Rookie QBs, Kicker, Jones
While Joe Flacco may be the best available quarterback to start for the Browns offense at the moment, the 40-year-old is clearly not the team’s quarterback of the future. After a 1-3 start to the season, some may be calling to get a look at one of the two rookies Cleveland drafted back in April, but according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, it doesn’t seem like either quarterback could do anything to prevent the team from drafting a first-round passer next year.
It made some sense to start Flacco even if the Browns didn’t have much confidence in their ability to contend for a title. An opening slate of games against the Bengals, Ravens, Packers, Lions, Vikings, and Steelers — all playoff teams from last year after Week 1 — would be a brutal introduction to the NFL for a rookie passer and may do more harm than good for the player’s development. It made sense to have Flacco start a good number of these games and reevaluate.
If Flacco could amass a good record through a daunting opening stretch, the team could stick with him and hope for a potential playoff run with an easier stretch of games later on in the season. If the team was clearly far from contending for a playoff spot, the back portion of the season could be used to see what they have in Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. One of the two rookies could really spark the offense and prove themselves as the team’s quarterback of the future.
Not according to Breer. While Breer agrees that, at some point, Gabriel and Sanders may find the field later this year, he doesn’t believe that there’s anything the two could do over the next four months to prevent the Browns from taking a quarterback with one of their two first-round picks in 2026. Breer points to the travel schedule of the Browns’ top personnel staffers, who went “to see a few of the top college quarterbacks over Labor Day weekend,” something he expects they’ll continue to do.
Here are a couple other rumors coming out of Cleveland:
- After some early season struggles, some wondered if the Browns had made the right decision going with Andre Szmyt as their kicker, but the team stood behind him. According to Tony Grossi of 850 ESPN Cleveland, the team did reach out to another kicker to “be on hold” when Szmyt suffered a midweek calf injury last week, but Szmyt recovered and won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after kicking a 55-yard game-winner against the Packers. We had noted a workout with veteran kicker Matthew Wright on the Saturday before the Green Bay game, but whether or not the two reports are related is unknown.
- Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal reported that left tackle Dawand Jones‘ surgery to repair the LCL tear in his knee and his hamstring aversion was successfully performed last Thursday. James Voo, the team physician who performed the surgery, expects Jones to make a full recovery in time for the 2026 NFL season.
Browns Exploring LT Options After Dawand Jones Injury
The Browns are looking for help on the blind side after losing offensive tackle Dawand Jones to a season-ending injury in Week 3. After Jones underwent surgery on his knee, the team placed him on injured reserve. 
Jones opened the season as Cleveland’s starting left tackle but flipped to the right side in Week 3 with veteran Cornelius Lucas was struggling to fill in for an injured Jack Conklin. Lucas allowed five pressures in each of the Browns’ first two games of the season, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), so the team moved him to the blind side hoping for some improved play until Jones and Conklin could move back to their normal spots.
That approach did not go to plan, as Lucas struggled even more at left tackle in Week 3, allowing nine pressures, while Jones went down just four plays into the game. Even if Conklin is able to return in Week 4, Lucas doesn’t seem like a viable starter on either side. As a result, the Browns are already exploring other left tackle options with several weeks until the trade deadline, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The trade route would be an interesting one for Cleveland. The best targets are going to likely be aging veterans on expiring deals, especially if they aren’t playing to the levels of their prime. The teams with those players are likely either expecting them to leave in free agency or not planning on re-signing them. Players like Rob Havenstein with the Rams or Colts tackle Braden Smith come to mind. As opposed to letting good players walk away and getting nothing in return, Los Angeles and Indianapolis could instead attempt to bring in some trade value for their potentially departing assets.
But then again, one has to look at Cleveland and how the Browns are set up. The team is clearly not in a win-now mode, so how much good would it do to part with valuable draft assets in exchange for a short-term rental. With so many young players throughout the roster and an intriguing pick collection next year, the Browns may be hesitant to part with any draft capital solely for a temporary fix.
They’ll have plenty of time to explore that avenue, though, and others. Just this morning they signed Thayer Munford to their active roster off the Patriots’ practice squad. A former seventh-round pick for the Raiders, Munford started 18 games over the first three years of his rookie contract in Las Vegas. Munford appears to be the first of many options that Cleveland will explore as they work to rebuild their offensive line on the fly.
Ely Allen contributed to this post.
Browns T Dawand Jones To Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery
The Browns recorded their first win of the campaign yesterday, but their offensive line suffered a blow in the process. Tackle Dawand Jones will miss the remainder of the season.
The third-year blocker suffered a knee injury during Cleveland’s Week 3 contest and did not return. When speaking to the media on Monday, head coach Kevin Stefanski said (via Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal) Jones requires surgery and will be sidelined for the rest of the campaign as a result. 2025 thus marks the third consecutive year in which Jones has found himself in this situation.
The 24-year-old started at left tackle for the first two games of the campaign as the Browns sought out a long-term answer on the blindside. Things did not go according to plan, however, prompting the team to move Jones back to his familiar right tackle spot for Sunday. That decision resulted in only a short-term impact given the timing of the injury.
Jones will now turn his attention once again to the recovery process. The former fourth-rounder was limited to 11 games as a rookie and 10 the following year. After only three appearances in 2025, he could still be viewed as a starting option for the future but one without a track record of availability. Jones’ rookie contract runs through next season, and in the wake of this latest injury it would come as a surprise if he were to receive an extension during the spring.
As a rookie, Jones drew a strong PFF evaluation for his pass protection; 2024 produced a regression across the board, though. Cleveland’s overall play up front has been a sore spot, particularly at the tackle positions. Losing the Oklahoma product for the year will leave the Browns shorthanded to an even larger extent moving forward.
Jedrick Wills is recovering from a knee injury of his own, and the former Browns first-rounder remains unsigned as a candidate to miss most (potentially all) of the campaign. A reunion on that front should not be expected, while veteran Jack Conklin has logged just 20 snaps to date in 2025. He is a pending free agent, and an offseason departure would come as no surprise. For now, Cornelius Lucas and KT Leveston are positioned to handle tackle duties. The Browns could be in the market for an in-season addition, particularly if Conklin continues to miss time.
In any event, Jones will not be in the picture for the rest of the way. The 1-2 Browns are in need of improved play on offense, including up front. The will need to attain it while dealing with a shorthanded unit.
Dawand Jones On Track To Be Browns’ LT
JUNE 5: Jones noted when speaking to the media that he has dropped 20 pounds in anticipation of handling blindside duties (h/t Jeff Schudel of the News-Herald). As expected, Jones is indeed in position to operate as Cleveland’s new starter at the left tackle spot.
MAY 28: The quartet of tackles chosen during the first half of the 2020 first round delivered mixed results on their respective rookie contracts. Tristan Wirfs has become an anchor in Tampa, now residing as the NFL’s highest-paid left tackle, while Giants draftee Andrew Thomas — when available — has been among the best LTs as well. Mekhi Becton, who looked like the worst of the batch as his Jets career careened off course, has bounced back as a guard.
Quietly, Jedrick Wills — chosen ahead of Becton and Wirfs (at No. 10 overall) — remains in free agency. The Browns could not rely on the Alabama alum following troublesome 2023 knee injuries (MCL and PCL sprains, along with bone bruises), and despite picking up his fifth-year option, the team demoted a five-year starter late last season. As Wills remains unattached, the Browns are aiming to turn to another injury-prone option to replace him.
Dawand Jones has filled in for both Wills and Jack Conklin in Cleveland’s lineup, but the Ohio State alum has also seen both his NFL seasons end early. Jones suffered a knee injury during a December 2023 practice, ending his season and further depleting a Browns O-line that had already lost Conklin and Wills by that point, but he returned on time in 2024 — something the Browns’ then-tackle starters failed to do — and played 10 games (eight starts). Not long after the Browns elevated Jones over Wills, the 2023 fourth-rounder sustained an ankle injury to close his second season. He also underwent a cleanup knee procedure this winter.
The Browns, however, did not draft a tackle or any O-linemen last month. As the team conducts a rare four-man quarterback competition, cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot notes Jones is on track to start at left tackle. Jones opened as a Week 1 starter last year, but he was then a fill-in performer. The Browns do have part-time 2024 Commanders starter Cornelius Lucas — who signed a two-year, $6.5MM deal — in place as insurance, but the 12th-year veteran’s contract points to a swing role. The Browns certainly needed their swingmen during the Wills-Conklin period, and with the latter still in place after an offseason pay cut, Lucas stands to be important even in the event Jones becomes Cleveland’s LT starter.
Playing 334 right tackle snaps and 176 on the left side in 2024, Jones graded as a bottom-five tackle (in the view of Pro Football Focus) last season. The advanced metrics site was more bullish on Jones in 2023, ranking him 48th among tackle regulars. PFF graded Lucas (464 offensive snaps) 28th among tackles last season. This plan, with Jones unproven and injury-prone and Lucas entering an age-34 season, brings considerable risk for a Browns team with a destabilized QB situation.
The other pieces from a once-formidable Browns O-line are also aging. Joel Bitonio considered retirement this offseason and will turn 34 in October. Teller and longtime Bitonio guard sidekick Wyatt Teller are entering age-31 campaigns. While no reinforcements arrived in the draft, the Browns did sign three-year Bears guard starter Teven Jenkins on the cheap (one year, $3.1MM); that may prove important given the ages of the team’s expected starters. Even center Ethan Pocic is not young, by NFL standards, as he will play an age-30 season this year.
Lucas winning the LT job would stand to give the Browns an extraordinarily rare all-3o-something front, but the team is hoping Jones can provide some youth for the unit. Jones, 24 in August, has two years remaining on his rookie deal. A Browns team that may need to conduct an O-line overhaul in 2026, as its four 30-something starters are in contract years, would certainly benefit from a young player seizing the reins this season.
Browns OT Dawand Jones Underwent Knee Surgery
Dawand Jones recently went under the knife. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Browns left tackle underwent arthroscopic knee surgery.
The procedure was intended to clean up a knee injury that lingered during the 2024 campaign. Fowler says the hope is that Jones will begin running soon and will be at full health for the start of training camp, but his recovery will obviously be worth watching.
Jones has struggled with injuries during his brief career. The former fourth-round pick got into 11 games as a rookie before suffering a season-ending MCL injury. He played through his knee issue in 10 games last year before going down with a broken fibula.
In total, the lineman has appeared in 21 games (17 starts) in his two seasons in the NFL. His knee troubles may have contributed to his poor showing in 2024, as Pro Football Focus ranked the lineman 77th among 81 qualifying OTs. Jones had a much better showing in 2023, finishing 48th among 81 qualifiers in those same rankings.
Despite the injuries and inconsistent play, the Browns are still hoping the 23-year-old can be their answer at left tackle. Jones will be penciled into the starting lineup opposite Jack Conklin to open the offseason, although that’s mostly because the rest of the team’s tackle depth (including James Hudson, Jedrick Wills, and Germain Ifedi) is set to hit free agency.
Minor NFL Transactions 11/19/24
Here are the latest moves from around the NFL:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Claimed via waivers: CB Marco Wilson
Cleveland Browns
- Placed on injured reserve: OT Dawand Jones (story)
Detroit Lions
- Activated from injured reserve: DT Brodric Martin
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Activated from injured reserve: RB Keilan Robinson
New England Patriots
- Signed to active roster: LB Titus Leo
- Placed on injured reserve: LB Curtis Jacobs
- Waived: LB Ochaun Mathis
Browns’ Dawand Jones To Undergo Season-Ending Ankle Surgery
Dawand Jones went down midway through the Browns’ Week 11 contest. The second-year offensive tackle had an air cast applied before being carted off the field, and he was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the contest.
Jones suffered a fractured ankle, head coach Kevin Stefanski said after the game (via Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal). Surgery will be required, and the 23-year-old will be out for the remainder of the campaign as a result. This news marks another blow to Cleveland’s offensive line.
The team selected Jones in the fourth round last year, but he saw considerable time as a rookie. Jack Conklin‘s absence vacated the starting right tackle spot, and Jones made 11 total appearances and seven starts. His play resulted in a strong PFF evaluation for pass protection but left plenty of room for improvement in the run-blocking department. With a number of changes being made up front this year, Jones has had plenty of playing time.
The Ohio State product had logged a 77% snap share heading into Sunday’s action, with right tackle once again being his primary position. Jones had also seen time on the blindside, and that could have remained the case moving forward depending on the status of Jedrick Wills. Wills was demoted recently as he continues to recover from the MCL injury which ended his 2023 season. The former first-rounder’s absence for Week 8 was a talking point over the past several days, and remaining a second-string option would have left the door open to Jones handling starting duties.
Now, Jones’ attention will turn to recovery ahead of the 2025 campaign. Two years remain on his rookie contract, so he will still have the opportunity to carve out a full-time starting gig at either tackle spot once healthy. This news will likely force Wills back into the starting lineup to close out the campaign, a crucial stretch given his status as a pending free agent.
Cleveland’s loss to New Orleans on Sunday leaves the team with a 2-8 record. With the postseason not in reach, individual performances will be key down the stretch. Wills in particular will be worth watching as the Browns contemplate their tackle setup for next year.
Browns To Demote LT Jedrick Wills
In an out of Cleveland’s lineup this season due to injury trouble, Jedrick Wills will begin to play an unusual role for the Browns beginning after their bye week. The 2020 first-round pick will open Week 11 as a second-stringer.
Wills missed Weeks 1 and 2 due to the nagging knee injury that ended his 2023 season, but the fifth-year left tackle also missed two more games — Weeks 4 and 8 — before being active against the Chargers. Upon returning, however, Wills played behind second-year blocker Dawand Jones. That adjustment came about in part because of Wills’ trouble staying healthy, but Kevin Stefanski said (via the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Ashley Bastock) the Browns will stick with Jones coming out of their bye.
This will mean a true demotion for Wills, who had been the Browns’ LT starter (when healthy) throughout his career. This offers a hurdle for Wills during a key point in his career; the Alabama alum’s rookie contract expires after this season.
“I would say more generally the tackles, we need all three,” Browns GM Andrew Berry said of Cleveland’s tackle situation. “We‘re going to need all three of ’em. They’ve all prepared really accordingly, just because we’ve had a little bit of, maybe a little bit of a carousel there early in the year because of injuries and availability. So really all three of those guys, they just have to continue to be ready and play good football.”
Tackle No. 3 in this equation is Jack Conklin, who remains unthreatened at right tackle. Conklin joined both Wills and Jones in suffering a season-ending injury last year, going down in Week 1 with an ACL tear. Conklin has an extensive history of knee trouble, and he has joined Wills in being unable to provide dependability for the Browns this season. Conklin has played in just four games this season, his ninth in the NFL. Conklin has two ACL tears an a patellar tendon tear on his medical sheet. Missing all of training camp, the former Titans first-rounder did not debut until Week 6 this season but has been a consistent starter since.
Conklin, 30, has logged 100% of the Browns’ offensive snaps over the past two weeks. Jones, who suffered a knee injury in a December practice last year, returned on time for Browns camp this year and has played both right and left tackle in 2024. Jones had filled in more often for Conklin (334 RT snaps) than Wills (146), but it appears the team will use the former fourth-round pick at LT moving forward.
Pro Football Focus is not bullish on the Ohio State alum, ranking him 73rd among 77 qualified tackles this season. PFF ranked Jones 48th at tackle last season, when he played only right tackle. Jones started at right guard in 2021 and right tackle in 2022 with the Buckeyes, as eventual top-10 pick Paris Johnson Jr. manned the blind side that year, making this LT placement in front of Wills interesting.
This Browns change throws a wrench into Wills’ future. A starter for top-tier Browns O-lines during the earlier part of this decade, Wills was not regarded as a Pro Bowl-caliber blocker like Conklin or guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. (PFF has yet to rank him in the top 50 for a season.) But he started 53 games until suffering MCL and PCL sprains, along with bone bruises, midway through last season. Now, Wills faces the prospect of losing value in free agency.
Cleveland has bigger issues than its O-line moving forward, with Deshaun Watson‘s guarantees a reality through 2026, but Wills and Conklin probably face some cloudy futures with the team. Conklin is signed through 2026 (four years, $60MM) but has no guaranteed money remaining beyond this season. Wills may need a strong finish to prove worthy of a long-term commitment in 2025, and a midseason demotion is obviously not a good development for those prospects.