Cleveland Browns: 3 players I’m sold on in 2018
By Randy Gurzi
1. Myles Garrett, Defensive end
Speaking of picks the previous regime hit on, we have defensive end Myles Garrett. Although the Cleveland Browns were tight-lipped about it, the whole world knew they were taking Garrett out of Texas A&M with the No. 1 overall pick in 2017 — and he was the right call.
Unfortunately, we haven’t seen Garrett enough yet. Sure, we’ve seen enough to know he can dominate as an edge rusher, but he missed five games and parts of others as he dealt with nagging injuries as a rookie.
Still, in the 11 games he did play, Garrett recorded 31 total tackles and seven sacks. Projected over a full season, that puts Garrett in the double-digit range for taking down opposing quarterbacks in the backfield.
Like tight end before, defensive end is a tough position to master as a rookie, but Garrett mastered it. To prove this, tet this stat sink in. In only 11 games Garrett had more sacks than J.J. Watt (5.5) and Khalil Mack (4) did in their rookie seasons. In their second seasons, they each broke out as Watt registered 20.5 sacks and Mack went for 15.
Next. 3 Players I’m still not sold on. dark
It’s not unreasonable to think Garrett can’t have as impressive a second season for the Browns. It’s even easier to believe he can do that if you watch how much he dominated the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line in their preseason matchup a couple of weeks ago.