Browns: Ranking the impact of the Browns 3 most important players

Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, and Myles Garrett are the Browns’ three most important players but who’s most important for the team?

If you listen to the Bull and The Fox on 92.3 FM during the weekday afternoons, you’ll know that they oftentimes come up with some creative ideas for talking points. One of the most recent ones that they’ve hit on for the last few days is power ranking the three players they believe are the team’s most impactful/important players. Those three players that they list are Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, and Myles Garrett.

Yet, who really is most important to the team’s success?

Let’s find out.

3. Nick Chubb

At this rate, Nick Chubb will just hit 1,100 yards rushing if he doesn’t miss another game. That’s great and a sign that he’s a top running back in the NFL. Unfortunately, his replacement Kareem Hunt didn’t play nearly as well in Chubb’s stead and didn’t crack 100 yards rushing until Week 10 against the Texans. Meaning that Baker Mayfield carried much of the offensive load when Chubb was gone. You can’t argue that Chubb is more important than Mayfield anymore because Mayfield proved he can win without Chubb and play better than anyone thought he could.

2. Myles Garrett

Myles Garrett has only played 90% of defensive snaps in a game three times so far this year and that’s before he was ruled out against the Eagles and possibly the Jaguars due to contracting COVID-19.  Yes, he’s leading the NFL in sacks, and strip sacks, but outside of maybe one big play per game, Myles Garrett doesn’t impact the game to the same degree as a player who affects it every single play they’re on the field for. For as good as Garrett is at his position, it’s not at all out of bounds to say that his position is overvalued to a degree. A great defensive end doesn’t stack up against a great, or even a good quarterback, just due to the number of times the quarterback has to succeed in order to put his team in a place to win. The best defensive end will never be able to carry a team if that team doesn’t have a capable quarterback.

1. Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield was the only player of the three on this list to play 99% of the snaps in seven of the eight games. The only time he didn’t hit the 99% mark, was against Pittsburgh when he was playing with a rib injury. As good as Garrett is, Mayfield is the only offensive weapon the team hasn’t had to live without. Even Jarvis Landry has missed some time due to his ongoing hip issue. If Mayfield wasn’t on this team, they wouldn’t have a winning record. The offense has gone stretches without Odell Beckham, Nick Chubb, Wyatt Teller, Austin Hooper and that doesn’t factor in Landry or Kareem Hunt, who’ve mostly been playing while injured. Neither man has really looked like their past selves as of right now, which makes Mayfield’s 1,646 yards, 61.3% completion percentage, 15 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions even more impressive when you realize he’s played with a skeleton crew at times on offense.

While Myles Garrett is one of the top guys at his position, his position only impacts the game every so often. If he makes four plays in a game, then people consider Garrett to have had a great game. If Mayfield only makes four plays in a game, he’s likely on the bench. It’s not fair to compare anyone to a quarterback, which is why Mayfield is the obvious number one.