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Cleveland Browns Comprehensive NFL Draft Review: Jedrick Wills Jr, OT Alabama

With the 10th pick of the 2020 NFL Draft and the first pick for general manager Andrew Berry, the Cleveland Browns selected Jedrick Wills, offensive tackle from Alabama. This takes a thorough look at the pick from a number of different angles.
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With the 10th pick of the NFL Draft, the Browns wasted no time in selecting Jedrick Wills Jr. from Alabama. They were so certain about the pick that as soon as they were on the clock, the pick was in and they were moving onto the next one.

Wills was a terrific right tackle for the Alabama Crimson Tide, protecting Tua Tagovailoa's blindside at Alabama, keeping him clean. 

"Per Alabama, he graded out at over 91 percent, allowing only one sack all season and only 3.5 quarterback hurries while missing only seven assignments in 771 snaps. It added up to a success rate of 99.0 percent." - Christopher Walsh, Bama Central

Athletic Profile

Age: 20 (Born May 17th, 1999)

Height: 6'4 1/2"

Weight: 312 lbs

40-yard dash: 5.05

Broad Jump: 113"

Vertical Jump: 34.5"

3-cone: DNP

Shuttle: 4.84

Bench: DNP

Jedrick Wills Athletic Thresholds

Wills is shorter than is ideal for an offensive tackle, but the Browns hope that his 34 1/4" arms make up for it. His speed and explosion are fantastic for the position and it's apparent on tape how easily he's able to generate power at the point of attack. They both exceed the thresholds for All-Pro outcomes and his explosion is only a little short of the average.

His agility is incomplete, because he did not participate in the three-cone. So while it does meet the threshold for All-Pro, it doesn't meet the averages simply because it's not complete. His shuttle performance, which measures ankle flexibility, is okay.

Wills did not participate in the bench press, which is almost entirely a threshold test as opposed to a meaningful gauge of anything.

Overall, his athleticism is more than adequate for him to have some high level outcomes, potentially be a Pro Bowl level player. While All-Pro is not out of the question, Pro Bowl seems far more likely.

Jedrick Wills Athletic Profile

Game Tape

Wills has a productive stance, excelling both from two and three points. Obviously switching sides, he will have to adapt it, but he takes advantage of the strength in his legs to get an explosive first step in any direction a play could him to make.

In the running game, he is powerful and aggressive. He can win with strength, but he does a good job of not settling for just bullying people out of the way, working to take position and put his body between defenders and the ball carrier. It can also enable him to get to the second level and make additional blocks, opening up bigger play possibilities. Wills really appears to focus on details in his blocking and positioning.

Particularly running zone concepts away from him, Wills would consistently demonstrates his ability to get to the inside shoulder of opponents, even when they had natural leverage over him.  And he fights to get that position. In addition to ensuring the defender can't find their way back into the play, it can open and protect cutback lanes for ball carriers.

Wills is dominant blocking down, able to jolt opponents off the ball. He does a nice job of settling and dropping his hips in space. His straight line speed is excellent and he can get to certain spots on the field some players simply can't, enable him to get to spots to then hinge back to seal or get out in front of aggressive screen calls.

In pass protection, Wills gets to his pass set quickly and efficiently. He's balanced, mirrors at a pretty high level and rarely gives up ground. Wills does a great job of anchoring and absorbing power from opponents. It's really difficult to move him off his spot, forcing most players to try to utilize speed. He has the movement skills and shows pretty good balance as well as patience to move with opponents and react accordingly.

Wills does a great job of recognizing and reacting to stunts. He demonstrates good vision and never appears rattled. Wills just seems to take everything in stride and deals with it effectively.

Wills was rarely beaten in his time at Alabama, though this past season might have been one of the weaker crops of pass rushers the SEC has had in years. It's possible that the best pass rusher he faced consistently was in the team's bowl game against Michigan and Josh Uche. Teams like LSU kept pass rushers like K'Lavon Chaisson on the other side of the formation, rarely facing off against Wills.

The one bad habit that Wills has is he will periodically watch the game as opposed to continuing to block or finding additional work. As a result, he will miss some opportunities to make more out of certain plays. It's a small issue for a player that gets so much right.

Fit, Usage and Projection with the Browns

Jedrick Wills is going to be the team's left tackle and blindside protector. They are committed to having him flip sides and learn the position under offensive line coach Bill Callahan's guidance. Both head coach Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry are confident that he can make the switch and be an effective player even as a rookie. Neither is suggesting flippantly that this is easy or taking it for granted, but they are confident in their plan, Callahan and Wills.

Callahan is one of the best offensive line coaches on the planet and oversaw the development of Tyron Smith's move from right tackle coming out of USC to left tackle to the Dallas Cowboys. It really comes down to time and reps. They have the time he needs to put in the reps.

Along with Joel Bitonio on the left side, Wills can help really open some running lanes on the left and create that dynamic of running left, playaction rolling to the right. They can potentially force opponents to put more defenders on that side to stop the running game, creating advantages in the passing for Mayfield on the move going to his throwing hand.

Wills has a chance to be make All-Pro in his career, but his potential suggests his ceiling he can be a multiple Pro Bowl player that locks down the blindside tackle spot for the Browns protecting Baker Mayfield the foreseeable future.

The Rest of The Browns 2020 Draft Class:

Grant Delpit, S LSU

Jacob Phillips, LB LSU

Jordan Elliot, DT Missouri

Harrison Bryant, TE Florida Atlantic

Nick Harris, C Washington

Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR Michigan