Maybe it’ll work out

Gotta be honest. The Browns’ selection in the opening round of the annual National Football League college draft Thursday night left me puzzled.

Personal preference interfered with my cognitive thinking as the lottery began unfolding toward the Browns’ selection with the 10^th overall pick. The stars seemed to align almost perfectly the closer it got.

The Browns, in desperate need of an offensive tackle, were finally catching a break. When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell put the Browns on the clock, three of them surprisingly remained on the board.

Tristan Wirfs, Jedrick Wills Jr. and Mekhi Becton were there in one of those didn’t-expect-to-see-all-three-of-them-there moments. Wirfs was my personal favorite. You don’t pass on an offensive lineman out of Iowa, especially one like Wirfs, who was a three-year star with the Hawkeyes.

I was all set to write his name on the list of draftees I was keeping, figuring it was a slam dunk, but decided to hold off because a little voice of suggested I was being a little too confident and should wait until Goodell made it official.

And then he announced, “With the 10^th pick in the 2020 draft, the Cleveland Browns select Jedrick Wills Jr., offensive tackle from Alabama.” My shoulders slumped. “Why can’t they get it right?” I thought to myself.

And then I realized Wirfs, who wound up being taken by Tampa Bay three picks later, had no shot at winding up in Cleveland. Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta proclaimed Wills “was actually the top tackle on our board from the beginning” when addressing the media after the pick.

At this point, I realized it’s all about talent evaluation. One man’s treasure is another man’s trash. Or vice-versa.

I dislike the pick because the Browns, sometimes too often, do not think outside the box. Not that Wills’ résumé isn’t impressive. Several prominent draft analysts who do this for a living had him rated the best offensive tackle on their board.

But Wills is a right tackle. Has been for the vast majority of his burgeoning career. Played very little left tackle at the beginning of his high school career. The Browns are going to change him a left tackle. Or at least make the attempt. And that’s where the left-right argument enters the picture.

Wills excels at right tackle. That is not being questioned here. He gained much of his sterling reputation because he zealously protected the blind side of Alabama southpaw quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

And now he is expected to switch over to the other side of the offensive formation and protect the blind side for Baker Mayfield, the most precious jewel for the offense. That’s quite a bit of pressure for a rookie.

Shouldn’t be a problem, according to General Manager Andrew Berry. “Tackles are tackles,” he says. Makes no difference whether they put their right hand on the ground or their left hand.

He correctly pointed out Jack Conklin, whom he signed to a hefty contract as a free agent recently, was a left tackle at Michigan State and made the successful transition to the right side with Tennessee in the NFL. You think Taylor Lewan being ensconced at left tackle for the Titans might have had something to do with that?

My point here is Berry and his men are not looking at the big picture. Wills can still be a valuable asset to the team without having to switch to the left side. Pencil him in at right tackle, where he’ll surely feel at home.

It would be as simple as moving Conklin back to the left side. He is not a stranger there. Wills is. Conklin can make the switch a lot easier than Wills because he had a stellar three-year career at the position with the Spartans, gaining All-America and All-Big Ten honors a majority of the time.

The muscle memory of those three years at MSU will make it much easier for Conklin to make the switch back than attempting to change Wills completely. Think square peg and round hole.

Offensive line coach Bill Callahan should know this and at least bring it to the attention of coach Kevin Stefanski, who can then make the ultimate decision on what to do. If it makes the Browns are stronger team along the offensive line, and it should, why not?

Then maybe I can rationalize the pick.

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The most impressive thing about the opening round, which ran seven minutes shy of four hours, was the absence of a glitch in the league’s first – and probably last – virtual telecast. Everything went smoothly, or at least appeared to except when Goodell faked taunting various audiences on his numerous television screens. Wore thin. . . . The round almost concluded with no running backs taken, Super Bowl champion Kansas City spoiled it by reaching for LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire with the final pick. Other reaches: Las Vegas, Ohio State cornerback Damon Arnette; Tennessee, Georgia OT Isaiah Wilson; Green Bay, Utah State QB Jordan Love; Seattle, Texas Tech ILB Jordyn Brooks; and Atlanta, Clemson cornerback A. J. Terrell.

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Lots of talent for the Browns to ponder in rounds two and three Friday night, a lot of it on defense, where they could use a lot of  help.

Still on the board, in not particular order are: Running backs J. K. Dobbins (Ohio State), D’Andre Swift (Georgia) and Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin); offensive linemen Josh Jones (Houston) and Ezra Cleveland (Boise State); safeties Grant Delpit (LSU), Kyle Dugger (Lenoir-Rhyne), Jeremy Chinn (Southern Illinois) and Xavier McKinney (Alabama); linebacker Zack Baun (Wisconsin); defensive linemen A. J. Epenesa (Wisconsin), Ross Blaylock (TCU), Josh Uche (Michigan), Marlon Davidson (Auburn), Yetur Gross-Matos (Penn State) and Justin Madubuike (Texas A&M); and wide receivers Michael Pittman (USC), Denzel Mims (Baylor), Laviska Chenault (Colorado) and Tee Higgins (Clemson).