CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Entering year four of his career, Jedrick Wills Jr.’s tenure with the Browns has been somewhat of an anomaly among fans.
The left tackle has never been a Pro Football Focus darling, earning a 62.9 offensive grade in 2022, 60th in the NFL among qualifying tackles. The year before, he came in at No. 55 with a 66.1 mark, battling an ankle injury for the entirety of the season.
Wills hasn’t been perfect of course, particularly when it comes to his consistency. But the Browns are much bigger fans of his trajectory than those grades would suggest; especially considering that PFF rankings for offensive and defensive linemen don’t always match the team’s assessment with independent evaluators not knowing an individual player’s assignments.
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And Wills’ assignments are rarely easy -- even in practice.
More often than not whether it’s one-on-ones or 11-on-11s, Wills is the one who is matched up against Myles Garrett, the four-time Pro Bowler who has recorded a franchise-record 16.0 sacks in each of the last two seasons.
There’s only one way to describe the experience for the 24-year-old tackle.
“It’s unreal,” Wills told cleveland.com on Friday. “I don’t think I’m going to find work like that anywhere else. Probably one of the best defensive ends in the game, if not the best defensive end of all time. But I feel like it really helps me. It helps me get going. It helps me groove my techniques and things like that.”
There’s no sugar coating it -- Wills loses a lot of those matchups.
In fact, Garrett beating him for would-be sacks throughout training camp are often what draws ire Wills’ way from Browns fans on social media (sentiments he doesn’t see since he doesn’t really spend time on social media, he’s said previously).
In his earlier years in the NFL, Wills would often have to fight frustration since this was the first time he’d consistently matched up with an edge rusher of Garrett’s caliber. Now, Wills has more of a just-another-day-at-the-office mentality about it and embraces it.
“Growing up, it’s hard to find that,” Wills said. “But it’s definitely a challenge and I think it helps me a lot. So I’m always up for a challenge.”
The Browns certainly like that part of Wills’ personality.
“We came out of last year’s film evaluation, the scheme eval from offseason and we saw a lot of positive things in his play,” offensive line coach Bill Callahan, one of the most trusted position coaches in the game, said. “We saw steps. Now, we want it to be more physical. We want it to be, I would say, more consistent in terms of the finish. We like to see that finish become more violent, more physical. I think we’re pushing that. We’ve had long conversations about that.
“And Jed, he’s a great kid and he takes constructive criticism well. He takes challenges well, so he’s up for it. He wants to get better. He’s shown that in the offseason, he’s shown that in training camp, he’s becoming a more consistent pass protector. We’ve added some things to his repertoire in terms of technique. So we’re really hopeful. And I know that he’s really challenged to get better and improve because there are some big things out there ahead of him.”
Another challenge for Wills and the rest of the offensive line this season is getting on the same page with blocking for Deshaun Watson, a true dual-threat quarterback who oftentimes will hold onto the ball for as long as possible looking to make a play and who also has great improvisational ability.
Those explosive plays will have to start upfront.
“Really, just knowing that he’s a playmaker and that he’s going to do anything to put the ball in the right position,” Wills said. “So just making sure that we stay alive as long as he stays alive.”
Coming into this season, Wills is also encouraged by his future being set for the next two seasons.
In May, the Browns picked up his fifth-year option of $14.175 million, wrapping him up through 2024.
But much like those one-on-ones with Garrett, Wills is still viewing that fifth-year option as more of a challenge.
“Showing that they have some faith in me and showing that they like what they’re seeing, it definitely secures me in a spot for the next two years,” he said. “And if not next year, but this year I can try and do some good things for myself. So I mean, coming from them, it’s just the trust aspect, knowing that they like me where I’m at and that they locked me in.”
Anomaly among the fan base or not, the Browns continue to be encouraged by Wills’ progress.
This season the biggest question for Wills is whether he can maintain that good will and keep improving where they need him to.
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