Director of Player Personnel Dan Saganey (4.29.23)
Opening statement:
“Very excited to talk about the two new additions to the Cleveland Browns. We certainly got a lot bigger this afternoon, adding (T) Dawand Jones from Ohio State and (DE) Isaiah McGuire, defensive lineman from the University of Missouri. With Dawand, we’ve seen him for a couple years. Obviously, he’s had a very good career at Ohio State. Massive human being, I think you guys will really enjoy him when you get to stand next to him and talk with him and see what he’s all about. He’s a player that we’re very excited about. It’s a premium position, offensive tackle, for us. We’re excited to get him in the building. Really, both guys, you can never have enough pass rushers or tackles. So we’re very excited to get both where we were able to scoop them up in the Draft.”
On if they see Jones as a swing man:
“Yeah, I would say it always helps when guys have played both positions in college and the added versatility is a bonus. Really, like I said, it’s a premium position for us, so giving him to Bill (Callahan) and Scott (Peters), I think those are the two best o-line guys in the league, in my opinion. Very excited about how he can grow as a player and continue to develop him. Any versatility added is a huge bonus for us as we go through the year.”
On whether Jones loves football enough to make it his profession:
“Yeah, we’ve spent some time with him through the spring process. Very comfortable with taking him where we took him. Realistically, we spent a good amount of time with him. The Ohio State program has been great to us through the years sharing information. We’re very comfortable with our process with the person and we’re excited to get him in. Really, you give a guy like this to Bill and Scott, work our process here, we’re pretty excited about where he can be as a player.”
On if they felt size was something they needed more of:
“Well, this happens to be the biggest human I’ve ever seen, so it’s kind of a unique circumstance. I wouldn’t say it’s been a theme, it’s really how the boards fall. We’re very active with trade calls and, really, we’re trying to take the best consensus players that we can with our coaching staff, with our scouting staff and with football research. We feel with the way things have fallen, we’re very happy with. Again, adding to the defensive line and offensive line are two very important things for us, really, every year, if we can. Excited to get these guys where we can.”
On what stands out about McGuire:
“Isaiah is a long defensive end with some good pass rush upside. Again, a guy that we view as potentially having inside, outside rush flex. We’re going to be attacking up-the-field defense and looking forward to seeing him rush off of the edge. We do think he eventually has the ability to rush inside, as well. High-motor player who has been very productive in the SEC and again excited to add to the d-line any chance we get. Just like the o-line room, as well.”
On McGuire’s productivity in the SEC:
“Obviously, you want to see guys play against the best competition and we were able to do that, really, with other players. Both guys have played against the highest level of competition. Dawand had a really good game against Georgia and had a lot of really good tape out there the last couple years. Isaiah, really in my opinion, and our groups opinion, came into his own this year. Particularly, in the pass rush side of things. any chance we get to add a defensive lineman we’re excited about it, who has produced against the best, that only adds to it. We’re excited.”
On scouting guys who have an attacking style of play:
“You guys will hear coach (Jim) Schwartz talk a lot about what he coaches the defensive line to do. It’s really go mess ‘you know what’ up. Isiah’s a guy that we think can do that. Again, he’s proven it against the best players in the country. Really, the skillset overall just fits what we do really well. To get him in the fourth round, we’re really excited.”
On how big Jones is:
“You guys will see in person. To give you a funny story on Dawand, I happened to be scouting him two years ago at the Oregon game, which was I believe was the first game of the season for the Buckeyes that year. I had an unnamed family member watching the game and they were like ‘Who is the right tackle? That’s the biggest human being I’ve ever seen.’ That was my first exposure to Dawand up close and I would second that. To see a guy that big that moves that well again, really excited to get him in the mix.”
On Jones playing both sides of the line:
“Yeah, he’s moved around. I think it’s the added versatility if anything with offensive linemen is a bonus for us.”
On how Jones blocks with his size:
“I would say he absolutely does. The good thing about Dawand, for a guy his size, he’s so nimble and agile. I think if you guys watch his high school basketball highlights, you will probably see how he moves. There’s a lot of good highlights of him out there pulling, doing things that we ask our guys to do. For a guy that size, the athleticism and the quickness really stands out on tape. We think he can do a lot of things well that we do in our system and, again, really looking forward to seeing him develop as a player.”
On McGuire against the run:
“A very good run player, in our opinion. A guy that has length, that has power in his body. A younger guy that’s going to continue to develop and add more strength and quickness and power. The baseline for him, we think, is really good in the run game and he really turned it on this year as a pass rusher. [We] view him a versatile wave player who’s going to come in and compete to contribute pretty early.”
On Jones and DE Myles Garret playing one-on-one basketball:
“(Laughs) That would be a great one-on-one game. You guys can go ahead and set that up this spring. It would be fun to watch. Both guys got some pretty good highlight tapes out there.”
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