{"id":794930,"date":"2026-03-06T00:22:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/794930\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:22:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:22:29","slug":"cleveland-browns-would-the-team-turn-to-a-familiar-ot-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/794930\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland Browns: Would the team turn to a familiar OT in free agency?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There will certainly be more moves coming, likely both in free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft, as Berry needs to find:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If Berry does turn his gaze back toward offensive tackle, there is a name from the recent past that would send shivers down the spines of Browns fans everywhere, as Jedrick Wills Jr. is back on the market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">A first-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft, Berry\u2019s first as general manager, Wills started 15 games for a Cleveland team that made the playoffs. He went on to start 45 games in his first three seasons before injuries started to take their toll.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Wills only played in 13 games his final two years in town, opting to shut it down after appearing in just five games in 2024 after making a \u201cbusiness decision\u201d to rest a lingering knee injury. That did not sit well with the coaches, and Wills was subsequently sidelined in favor of Jones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Cleveland opted to let Wills test free agency after that season, but he, in turn, decided to take the 2025 season off to let his body heal. That apparently has happened as Wills has reportedly visited with the Detroit Lions and the New England Patriots as he eyes a return to the NFL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Interesting that those were the first two teams reportedly talking with Wills. Detroit offensive coordinator Drew Petzing was with the Browns from 2020 to 2022, so he saw Wills at his best. New England head coach Mike Vrabel, of course, was \u201cin the building\u201d with the Browns in 2024, so he saw Wills at his worst.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But if the Patriots, who just played in the Super Bowl, and the Lions, who continue to have Super Bowl aspirations, are interested in Wills, shouldn\u2019t the Browns be interested, given their acute need at the position?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">That would probably be a tougher sell, even with the turnover along the offensive coaching staff since Wills last played for the Browns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While he got off to a decent-enough start to his career, Wills\u2019 play was on a continuous downward trend after his rookie season. Whether that was due to injuries, a lack of desire, or a combination of both is open to debate. But there is no questioning that his last two seasons with the Browns were memorable for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Browns are turning the page on offense, starting with the offensive line, so the idea of bringing Wills back, even if some successful teams are talking with him, should be a non-starter if his name comes up in the halls of team headquarters when free agency opens next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There will certainly be more moves coming, likely both in free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft, as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,3295,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-794930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-cleveland-browns-free-agency","12":"tag-clevelandbrowns","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116179380269739998","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}