PHOENIX: Cameron Erving will receive a shot to earn his keep with the Browns, but it will be at a new position.
Coach Hue Jackson said Erving will move from center to right tackle, where he’ll compete for a starting job that’s wide open.
The shift isn’t surprising. Erving struggled last year in his first season as a starting NFL center, and the coaches moved him to right tackle for the season finale to see if he would fare better there. Then the Browns signed J.C. Tretter in free agency with the intent to start him at center.
“We’re going to stick [Erving] at right tackle, see if he can compete and earn the right to be the starting right tackle for the Cleveland Browns,” Jackson said Tuesday during the NFL owners meetings at the Arizona Biltmore hotel and resort.
In January, Erving said he felt more natural at tackle than center partly because of his background. He started 37 games at left tackle at Florida State before moving to center for the final five games of his collegiate career. Erving and his coaches have also conceded his size (6-foot-5 and 313 pounds) makes him better suited for tackle than center.
“He’s very athletic,” Jackson said. “We know Cam’s very long. I think he loves football. I think he’s willing to work. He needs to continue to get bigger and stronger. He knows that. It’s what I’ve asked him to do this offseason, and I think he wants to go out there and play tackle.
“Cam was willing to do, and credit to him, anything we asked him to. He tried to go in there and play center. We thought that was going to be a possible fit for him. Didn’t work out as well as we would’ve liked, but I really appreciate a player attempting to do what we asked him to do because of what we saw a year ago.”
Erving, the 19th overall pick in the 2015 draft, will be one of several players vying for the right tackle job. The other candidates include Shon Coleman, Matt McCants, Spencer Drango and Zach Sterup.
Last season, Austin Pasztor started the first 15 games for the Browns at right tackle before moving to guard while Erving took his spot for the finale. But Pasztor is a free agent now.
Asked if the ship has sailed on re-signing Pasztor, Jackson said, “There’s always a possibility. That decision has not been made yet.”
Barring injury, the other starting jobs on the offensive line are set with Joe Thomas at left tackle, Joel Bitonio at left guard, Kevin Zeitler at right guard and Tretter at center.
Busy Friday in Berea
The Browns will host OSU cornerback and Massillon High School graduate Gareon Conley on an official pre-draft visit Friday at their headquarters, a league source said.
The organization will also privately work out North Carolina quarterback and Mentor native Mitchell Trubisky on Friday during its local prospect workout day at its facility in Berea, another league source confirmed.
The vast majority of draft prospects must work out for NFL teams on their college campuses. But Trubisky will be permitted under NFL rules to work out in Berea because he’s considered local to Cleveland.
“I wish we could have them all come [to Browns headquarters],” Jackson said. “It will be an advantage, if that’s how we do it, to have him be there, to see exactly how we can do things. There’s more you can do. There’s more you can sell. There’s more that you can find out, and that’s an advantage to him at the end of the day. He’s able to do that because of where he played high school football.”
Jackson said he has skipped the scripted pro days of quarterbacks this offseason, including Trubisky’s last week in Chapel Hill, N.C., because he values private workouts more.
Trubisky, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer and Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes are considered the top-rated quarterbacks in this year’s class.
“I don’t know that this group, one guy separates himself from the other as much,” Jackson said. “We’ll find out as we go. Hopefully somebody will. That would make it easier as you look at it. But that hasn’t been decided.”
Hometown hero returns
The Browns re-signed defensive lineman and Parma Heights native Jamie Meder. “The Pierogi Prince of Parma” was an exclusive-rights free agent. Meder’s blocked field goal on Christmas Eve helped the Browns defeat the San Diego Chargers 20-17 and avoid a dreaded 0-16 season.
Meder, 25, has appeared in 33 games with 15 starts since joining the Browns in 2014 as an undrafted rookie from Ashland University. He played in all 16 games last season with 15 starts and had 48 tackles, one sack and one pass defensed.
Key to future
Jackson made it clear the Browns want to secure linebacker Christian Kirksey long term with a contract extension because they view him as a piece of their future.
“Kirko is another one of our young, talented players that we want to have back,” Jackson said. “Hopefully we’ll work through that process. But he’s another one of those cornerstone players in my opinion. Hopefully we can get things done with him. He’s talented. Did a great job last year. Looking for him to be even better this year.”
Extra points
• Jackson said he wishes the Browns could have kept wide receiver Terrelle Pryor, but a new deal has to work for both sides. Pryor left the Browns in free agency March 10 to join Washington on a one-year deal worth $6 million, plus $2 million in incentives. “I felt very comfortable that we did everything we could to put the best offer in front of him,” Jackson said. “It just didn’t work out.”
• Jackson said the Browns have not talked to any teams about holding joint practices or a scrimmage this year.
• Jackson reiterated what he said in January about the possibility of appearing on HBO’s Hard Knocks: “I don’t think I can say no, but hopefully our organization can.”