The Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett stands alone with fifth-year options

No other top-five pick in the 2017 NFL Draft had their fifth-year options picked up alongside Myles Garrett, who now stands alone.

With all due respect to Mitch Trubisky, he’s not having a strong start to his career. While the Ohio-native could still find success, the revelation that he, Titans Davis, 49ers Solomon Thomas and most surprising the Jaguars Leonard Fournette will all be free agents in 2021 has become a surprising narrative in recent days. Something Myles Garrett of our Cleveland Browns won’t be able to do, as the team picked up his fifth-year option.

This isn’t to say that Garrett will remain a Brown for life, nor is it safe to say that the others on this list won’t be re-signed by their current team. It just means there are no guarantees anymore for those four.

At the time of the draft, there was a huge debate about who to take No.1 overall and Trubisky was a fan favorite. Photos of him as a kid in Browns’ attire made the rounds for weeks as fans clamored for the Mentor, OH native.

Yet, of the 32 names picked, six names look like future legends in the league. The Jets safety Jamal Adams, Texans QB Deshaun Watson, the Steelers LB T.J. Watt, the Panthers RB/Flex Christian McCaffery, and of course the Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes. Those five and Garrett appear to be the biggest names from this class who will be around for some time.

Now you have a few others, like CB’s Marshon Lattimore (Saints), Marlon Humphrey (Ravens), and Tre’Davious White (Bills) who could be involved in that conversation as well, but what’s important is beyond Garrett, none of them were top-five picks.

With the news that Garrett is the only top-five selection to get his option picked up, it’s safe to say the only two names you’d consider taking over Garrett (if you were starting a team from scratch) would be McCaffery or Mahomes.

Those are the three franchise defining talents from the draft so far (at least in the first round) and seeing how far the other top-five have fallen, it makes you realize that there is no such thing as a guarantee in the NFL Draft.