Report: Browns' Dawand Jones Told Teams Prior to Draft His Dream Was to Play in NBA

Between Myles Garrett and Dawand Jones, the Cleveland Browns might be assembling the best basketball squad in the NFL.

The MMQB's Albert Breer reported Tuesday that "Jones's predraft process went as sideways as possible." One reason is that he told teams he once dreamed of playing in the NBA rather than the NFL.

Jones refuted the reporting:

Prior to attending Ohio State, Jones played basketball during high school in Indiana.

According to Cleveland.com's Nathan Baird, he once approached his Buckeyes coaches about joining the OSU basketball team. He also had scholarship offers from MAC schools to play basketball.

"I just had to take my business from basketball and push it to football and make that dream the same dream," Jones said, per Baird. "I used to say I wanted the NBA. So I just switched that to the NFL. All that's changed. I just let it go out the window."

Playing football might not have originally been his first wish, but it's working out rather nicely for the 6'8", 374-pound lineman. He was the No. 41 overall player and the fifth-best tackle on Bleacher Report's final 2023 big board.

While Jedrick Wills Jr. and Jack Conklin are firmly cemented as the starting tackles for Cleveland, the Associated Press' Tom Withers reported the Browns "believe there is plenty of upside" with Jones.