The Cleveland Browns appear to have a failure to communicate on their hands.
It began when left tackle Jedrick Wills made an odd revelation Monday. The former first-round pick has been hobbled by knee injuries in the past two seasons, missing the second half of last year with an MCL tear, but was supposedly healthy when he got benched ahead of the Browns’ game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 3.
However, Wills seemingly revealed to reporters this week that this benching was preceded by a conscious decision to not play against the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 27, calling it a “business decision.” From Cleveland.com:
“I mean, I decided myself that, I made a business decision not to play after the Bengals game going into that Ravens game because I was injured. And then the next week is when I received the news.”
Wills is a pending free agent and has plenty of incentive to stay healthy for the rest of the season. However, that comment triggered plenty of backlash, so much so that head coach Kevin Stefanski addressed the matter with reporters on Wednesday.
Apparently, Will doesn’t know what the words “business decision” mean in the modern sports dictionary:
“I talked to Jed, it was a poor choice of words,” Stefanski said. “I know the connotation of ‘business decision.’ That’s not how he meant it. He did not feel like he was near 100% to help us, but a poor choice of words and he understands that.”
Stefanski also pushed back on the idea Wills had suffered a setback with his knee. Wills reportedly hyperextended that left knee, the same one in which the MCL was torn, on Oct. 20 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Stefanski said Wills was simply going through a lengthy rehab process:
“I wouldn’t categorize it was ‘setback.’ It hasn’t recovered how quickly he would want it to and there’s obviously times that you maybe tweak an injury or you feel it again, those types of things, but yeah, it’s been a tough rehab for him.”
However Wills recovers, Stefanski has indicated the team will be starting 2023 fourth-round pick Dawand Jones going forward.