Already without right tackle Jack Conklin for the rest of the season, Cleveland placed left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. on IR this week. Rookie Dawand Jones, who had been playing well at right tackle, has now been ruled out for Sunday’s showdown against the Ravens.
The Brownso are going against one of the best defenses and pass rushes in Baltimore, needing a big win and hopefully stealing it on the road. That leaves James Hudson III and multiple other players who have been added via practice squads, with not many high-end players left to step in.
Hudson struggled mightily in camp, as well as the preseason, and the idea of him starting at left tackle doesn’t elicit much confidence. But an idea tossed out on social media by the OBR’s Andrew Spayde makes a ton of sense to me.
He suggested that Cleveland could move left guard Joel Bitonio to left tackle, put rookie Luke Wypler at left guard, and have Hudson at right tackle. Bitonio has made it clear in the past that he didn’t want a permanent move to left tackle but has played a couple of games as a left tackle when the team was in a bind – something he could do again.
Luke Wypler played decent at left guard in the preseason and when Hudson III played well in meaningful games it was at right tackle. Bitonio played two games at left tackle in 2021 and received overall grades of 91.5 and 82.6 from PFF, so this could be the best option for the Browns.
