Starting season at left tackle Sunday? Could be Conklin
BEREA — There’s a chance the Browns will have Jack Conklin starting at left tackle when they open the season Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys. That’s a two-time All-Pro starting, but both of those were earned while playing right tackle.
If that’s the case, no one has more confidence in Conklin being able to handle the change than the person who’s lined up next to him at right guard.
“I mean, Jack has played next to me for, what is it? Four years going on five years?” right guard Wyatt Teller said after Monday’s practice. “So, yeah, but I know that he’s getting out there, getting to move around, stuff like that. But I guess if whatever positions he’s at, if he was playing right guard, it’d be a little different other than right tackle.”
The prospects of Conklin starting at left tackle grow larger and larger with each day Jedrick Wills Jr. isn’t on the practice field. That was again the case Monday as they started work for the Cowboys.
Wills was removed a week ago from the physically unable to perform list, where he spent all training camp while continuing to rehab the right knee he injured last November. He hasn’t practiced, though, despite being on the initial 53-man roster.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t call it a setback,” coach Kevin Stefanski said Monday. “I’d say, with any injury that you’re rehabbing, you have to just treat it how it’s responding and those type of things. So, no, I wouldn’t say a specific setback. He wants to be out here last month. He wants to be out here two months ago, but just going to continue to treat him and make sure that we’re doing what is right medically.”
The Browns practice again today, when they’ll ramp up the preparations for the Cowboys. That may provide a little more clarity, or only cloud things up even more.
Stefanski only said Wills was “getting close, so we’ll see” when asked if he’s optimistic Wills will practice at all this week. He was not seen on the field during the 20 minutes or so of practice open to the media Monday.
Conklin only returned to practice from his own catastrophic 2023 knee injury last Tuesday. Monday’s practice was just the third in which he was a participant since last season’s opener, when he sustained damage to his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and meniscus when the Cincinnati Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson fell into his knee.
“He’s definitely a tough guy,” Teller said. “I applaud him for going through what he’s gone through. But, yeah, to come back the way that he has doesn’t look like crap when he runs and, I mean, that’s pretty good.”
Conklin was a left tackle at Michigan State, but has only played 67 snaps as a left tackle since being drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2016. Those were all in his first two seasons in the league, and often in situations where it may have been heavy or unbalanced looks.
Conklin’s not the lone option for the Browns at left tackle, since
they could elect to keep him at right tackle. James Hudson III, who started training camp in Wills’ spot, remains an option, as does practice squad member Germain Ifedi, who played a number of preseason reps at the position.
Hudson’s been thrust into a number of emergency situations at both tackle spots over his first three seasons, although only 71 of those have been at left tackle.
Last year, when he had a career-high 528 tackle snaps due to the multiple tackle injuries the Browns dealt with, 35 of those were on the left side.
“I think we got a good rep last year just throughout the season and experiencing injuries just across the roster, but specifically at left tackle,” assistant general manager/Vice President of Player Personnel Glenn Cook said. “So I felt like we had a pretty good plan in place.
“James has played a lot of football, a lot of confidence in James if he needs to play there or whoever coach puts there. I think we have players on our roster that can go out on Sunday and perform.”