The Best Player in each Cleveland Browns NFL Draft Class since 1999
By Chad Porto
2017 – DE Myles Garrett (Round 1: 1st overall)
This wasn’t a bad pick at all. Though considering Myles Garrett has earned a reputation and is just one bad move away from kissing his NFL career goodbye, one would argue that getting Patrick Mahomes or Christian McCaffery was the better call. That said, McCaffery and Mahomes are literally the top quarterback and running back in the NFL., so it’s not like it’s some big insult to compare Garrett against them.
To his credit, Garrett might be the best defensive end in all of football. It’s clear that every pick since him has been done supports him and fills in gaps across from him. He’s clearly the first building block of the new Browns-era, for however long this one lasts. He’s already got 30.5 sacks, and save for a down rookie year that saw him injured for nearly a quarter of the season, he’d probably have three straight ten sack seasons.
It also doesn’t hurt that Garrett is only one of three players taken in this class still on the team. The others are inconsistent tight end David Njoku, and starting defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi. So Garrett’s reign at the top of the class was never truly in doubt.
Safety Jabril Peppers, cornerback Howard Wilson, offensive tackle Roderick Johnson, defensive tackle Caleb Brantley, kicker Zane Gonzales and running back Matthew Dayes round out the rest of the players that aren’t on the team.
The most notable “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING” however was quarterback DeShone Kizer, who was arguably the worst quarterback to ever start for the Cleveland Browns on a pure talent perspective. Sure others had less impressive seasons, but no other quarterback looked so overwhelmed in my nearly 25 years of watching football than Kizer.