NFL Trade Rumors
Former first-round OT Jedrick Wills Jr. was supposed to anchor the offensive line in Cleveland for a long time. He was a top-10 pick and started as a rookie in 2020, showing some promising signs in his first few years in the league. The Browns went so far as to pick up his fifth-year option after three years, guaranteeing him over $14 million for this past season.
However, he struggled over the last two campaigns, posting PFF grades of just 54.7 and 58.6 in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Wills was in and out of the lineup last year, dealing with a knee injury early in the year before being benched after returning from injury. Wills said he made a “business decision” to sit himself in a midseason game after tweaking his knee the week before, despite not being given an injury designation pre-game. That comment didn’t sit well with the coaching staff, and he was relegated to a swing tackle role for the remainder of the year.
While Wills hasn’t performed up to par as a starting left tackle, he offers a fairly high floor as a backup option, especially this late in the offseason calendar. With OTAs fast approaching, teams that missed out on tackle help in the draft or end up suffering injury setbacks to projected contributors might want to give Wills a look. He has five years of starting experience, and even his worst play is pretty solid for a backup.
He’s also young, just turning 26 years old this past Friday. With how generally desperate teams are for even baseline play at tackle, it’s hard to see Wills not landing a shot with a team — assuming he wants to play.
Wills, 26, was drafted by the Browns in the first round out of Alabama in 2020. He signed a four-year, $19,702,911 rookie contract with an $11,889,390 signing bonus.
The Browns picked up Wills’ fifth-year option for the 2024 season before restructuring his contract for the first time in August of 2023. They did so again in March of 2024 in order to create $10.44 million in cap space.
In 2024, Wills appeared in five games and made four starts for the Browns at left tackle.
We have him included in our Top 100 Available NFL Free Agents list.
The Jaguars made a splash in the draft by trading up to select two-way superstar Travis Hunter at No. 2 overall. He’ll get some run on defense, but it sounds like the plan is for him to primarily pair with second-year man Brian Thomas Jr. to form an imposing receiver duo. With Liam Coen as the new head coach, setting up QB Trevor Lawrence for success is the top priority.
That may be difficult with the current state of the offensive line. Walker Little and Anton Harrison might be a fine starting duo, but it gets thin quickly behind them. Wills would be an upgrade over Cole Van Lanen and Fred Johnson as the...
