Cleveland Browns: The best drafted player at every position since 1999

Defensive Linemen – Myles Garrett

This is pretty obvious. While the Browns have had some good sleeper hits, Ahtyba Rubin namely comes to mind, there’s no better obvious pick than Myles Garrett. Since coming into the NFL, Garrett has had some less-than-desirable moments, however. We all know about The Braining that Mason Rudolph sustained. Then, despite evidence saying otherwise, Garrett refused to let the controversy die by claiming, without proof, that Rudolph uttered a slur during the exchange.

Not that it would justify what Garrett did if Rudolph had said it.

Then there was the assault Garrett reported but never pressed charges against. Seems fishy. Then there was the time Garrett begged the Dallas Cowboys to trade up and take him during the build-up to the 2017 NFL Draft. It was a move that got him roasted by pundits.

Then there was the illegal hit on Jet’s quarterback Trevor Simeon that ended his season. In that game alone, he had four penalties, two for roughing the quarterback. If these are just isolated incidents, you don’t give it a second thought about any of these issues. Yet, all of them combined? That’s worrisome.

I hope that Garrett’s just a dump-young-man. Not stupid, just dumb. Cus everyone at 24 was dumb. It’s life. His growth as a man is the most important thing for him to do. He’s already an excellent pass-rushing defensive end, having already accumulating 30.5 sacks in his first three seasons. Though he’s not much in the way of an aggressive tackler, averaging just 35 combined tackles across the season. Now, his rookie year was rough and injury-plagued and he missed a lot of time in 2019 due to the suspension. So it’s very likely the numbers would be much better across the board. More akin to his 44 tackles in 2018.

A player of his caliber, you’d want a good 50 tackles at the end position but that’s not always the biggest desire for ends these days. Those kinds of numbers are the kind future and current Hall of Famers would hit. Men like Jared Allen, Simeon Rice, and the sack-daddy himself Bruce Smith all had multiple seasons of 50+ tackles a year. That’s what Garrett should strive for as well.

If he can improve his run-stopping and mature as a man, he can be an all-time great.