Dawand Jones apparently wasn’t listed at an accurate weight last season.
The Cleveland Browns offensive lineman says that right now during OTAs, he weighs 374 pounds after dropping 20.
The NFL’s record for a regular season playing weight is 380 pounds, not held by Jones, but on paper, it looks like he broke it.
Regardless, Jones is still a giant of a man at 6-foot-8 and nearly four bills.
Jones is as important as ever heading into his fourth NFL season after being a fourth-round pick in 2022.
He has slid over to be Cleveland’s permanent left tackle, even though he doesn’t enjoy the position.
“My main thing is just to take the challenge on,” Jones told reporters at OTAs. “I kept it as real as possible with [GM Andrew Berry], I personally don’t like playing left tackle like that, but I don’t care. I’m athletic. It comes with the nature of the game and I think if [Tristan] Wirfs can do it and he went from right to left, he struggled too and if he can do it, I know I can because he’s athletic enough, he’s big enough just like me.”
Jones is replacing Jedrick Wills, who remains a free agent and is reportedly injured.
He’ll mostly have to get used to some new geometry.
“It’s just different just because of the angles,” Jones said of the switch. “That’s the main thing for me. I’m still trying to figure that out, just the way to shave or something and it just comes to you more naturally. You’re right-handed. It’s like doing everything with your left, writing with your left. I feel like I’m going to start doing that stuff in life, just start doing everything with my left and I’m already trying to do that so I feel like it’s working for me.”
The Browns don’t know who will be playing quarterback, but they know their former right tackle is now on the blindside.
It doesn’t hurt getting to go against Myles Garrett every day in practice.
“He has a lot of power. I think that’s the main thing I’ve learned, and his finesse,” Jones said. “His finesse at the top of the rush or just shock and shed you, I think that’s where I can really learn a lot of figuring out my hands, where to put them and I think he’ll help me out a lot.”
