![\"Browns](\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/04\/21\/USAT\/83199476007-usatsi-15988034-168402561-lowres.jpg?crop=3316,1866,x0,y172&width=660&height=371&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\nThe Cleveland Browns are a mess up and down the offensive line, and Dawand Jones is expected to return to the fine play of his rookie campaign.<\/p>\n
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For all the\u00a0quarterback\u00a0trouble the\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0have seen over recent seasons, let’s put at least some of the blame on the offensive line in front of them.<\/p>\n
Last season alone, while the Browns were employing four different starters under center, the offensive line was responsible for a whopping 66 sacks. That was up from 45 sacks the season before, when Cleveland had five different starters.<\/p>\n
The Browns spent a fourth-round pick on\u00a0Ohio State\u00a0offensive lineman Dawand Jones in 2023, and he’s failed to catch on so far across two seasons with the Browns.<\/p>\n
Pro Football Focus thinks that Jones is due for a make-or-break campaign next season.<\/p>\n
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“Jones played three games at [left tackle] last year before suffering a fractured fibula that ended his season,” analyst\u00a0Dalton Wasserman wrote\u00a0on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, he earned a subpar 44.1 PFF overall grade across those three outings. Veteran Cornelius Lucas could fill in if Jones is either injured or ineffective again, but the Browns desperately need young talent to emerge on their offensive line, and Jones is the most likely incumbent candidate.”<\/p>\n
After his rookie season, Jones was named\u00a0the team’s “most promising building block” heading into 2024 by Bleacher Report.\u00a0He earned a 64.7 overall grade by Pro Football Focus for his efforts in his rookie season. But 2024 didn’t go as planned.<\/p>\n
The former\u00a0Buckeyes\u00a0tackle sustained a major injury in the Browns’ Week 11 loss to the Saints, but even\u00a0before the injury, Jones was not playing to the standard he set in his rookie year. Pro Football Focus scored him an unimpressive 46.4 overall for the time he was on the field.<\/p>\n
The Cleveland offense was kind of a mess at that point, suffering from injuries to key players and from poor play at times. If Jones can completely recover and return to the play he displayed in 2023, he could help return the Browns’ offensive line to the No. 2-ranked unit that it was in his rookie campaign.<\/p>\n