BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Browns left tackle Jedrick Wills won’t miss any time after stepping aside for part of practice Wednesday.
Wills is fine after getting stepped on during a team 11-on-11 series.
“I just got rolled up on by a player, a little, mild ankle sprain, but I’ll be good to go,” Wills said before Thursday’s joint practice with the Giants.
Wills is entering his second NFL season at left tackle for the Browns after making the conversion from right tackle as a rookie after being selected 10th overall in the 2020 Draft.
“Feel a lot more comfortable. The game is a whole lot slower than it was last year,” Wills said. “The playbook is thoroughly completed in my mind. I just feel like everything I am doing right now is a lot more advanced than I was a year ago.”
As a sophomore Wills is starting to feel more at home on the left side.
“It’s just comfortability, being able to be comfortable in my stance, whether it’s being able to be comfortable with my hands and movements and still working on that,” Wills said.
Wills tried to describe the transition, which from his perspective was unique.
“I think the best way to put it is you wake up one day and you’re just automatically left-handed and you’ve been right-handed your whole life,” Wills said. “That was pretty much how I felt when I had to make that transition, just like waking up and it’s completely different footwork aspects, using my hands, even like as simple as a left tilt with my head. It was a whole different [feel].”
Projecting position changes, especially on the offensive line is not easy, but executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry saw Wills as a franchise left tackle during the scouting process leading up to the draft.
Wills hasn’t disappointed, despite less-than-ideal circumstances to deal with while making the transition.
“I think Jed’s done a really nice job coming in,” Berry said in an interview with Bull and Fox Wednesday on 92.3 The Fan. “I think for a rookie tackle, who’s going to play left tackle in the NFL for the first time in his life with no spring, no preseason, learning a new system and had to be ready in three weeks, you couldn’t have come up with a more difficult environment and he acquitted himself well.
“This year coming in, having that experience, not basically learning everything from scratch, he’s continued to take steps forward.”
Instead of learning a new position, Wills’ attention and focus is on refining his technique this year.
“Looking at it a year ago, I thought I was trash compared to this year watching film,” Wills said. “It’s a brand new game when you turn on the film this year.”
