4 freakishly athletic Cleveland Browns players you might not know about
The Cleveland Browns have several top athletes on their roster, but not all of them are household names…yet.
The Cleveland Browns have amazing athletes on their roster. That should not come as a surprise since pro football is the most difficult game in the world and only the top athletes in the world can play. But among the 90 or so top athletes on the roster, there are about three players who are hiding at the bottom of the roster with spectacular abilities.
You probably already know about David Njoku, who impressed at the 2017 Combine. He knocked out a 40-yard dash in 4.64 seconds. including a 1.61 second split, made 21 reps of the 225-pound bench press, and a vertical leap of 37.5-inches. Three tight ends during that year’s Combine, including Njoku, broke the previous broad jump record for tight ends.
Njoku finished second with a 133-inch broad jump. Incidentally, he was also the national high jump champion as a senior in high school, and also finished third in the same event in a major college meet.
However, Njoku was far overshadowed by Myles Garrett at the same Combine after Garrett’s All-American career at Texas A&M. The big man was clocked at 4.64-seconds in the 40-yard dash, tying Njoku, which is insane by itself. That is a good time for a safety in the NFL, astonishing for a defensive lineman.
Even more crazy is Garrett’s explosive 1.63-second time in the 10-yard split is all the more important for a lineman. Garrett also benched 225 pounds 33 times, one fewer than Samoan strongman Danny Shelton, drafted by Cleveland the previous year. He broad jumped 128-inches, which is outstanding. Most unbelievable of all is his 41-inch vertical leap. Amazingly, he jumped 2.5 inches higher than Odell Beckham, Jr.
Garrett was a basketball star in high school, which is probably not so surprising, but he also qualified for state in the shot put and the discus. That’s surreal.
Garrett is the gold standard by which all other Cleveland Browns will be judged. He can play for any team in the country, including the Avengers. There is nobody as big, strong, fast, quick, and coordinated as he is.
Still, there are other players who have crazy athletic skills. For example, another player who rocked the Combine was Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward in 2018. Ward blazed the 40-yard dash in 4.32 seconds, which tied for the fastest time at the Combine. Perhaps even more amazing was a 1.47 second 10-yard split, the fastest time that year.
Superstardom at the Combine does not guarantee success at the NFL level, but it does not hurt. It’s good to have a cornerback who can seriously haul.
The Browns have four other players who are nearly as amazing as Garrett, Njoku, or Ward, but who currently dwell in relative obscurity.
Let’s start with the most recent addition, rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones.