Browns Midseason Awards: Myles Garrett leading the charge as MVP

Browns MVP and Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett, EDGE

It's hard to find any player on this roster as dominant as Myles Garrett is right now.

The former No. 1 overall pick in 2017, Garrett already set the Browns franchise record for the most sacks in a single season when he racked up 16 in 2021. He tied that number in 2022 and in the process, became the all-time leader in team history — and did so at just 27 years old.

As impressive as he was during his first six years in the league, Garrett has been even more dominant in 2023. With Jim Schwartz controlling the defensive game plan, the secondary is doing a better job sticking with their guys which is giving the defensive line more time to attack the quarterback.

On top of that, there are better players around Garrett including Dalvin Tomlinson, Za'Darius Smith, Maurice Hurst, and Ogbo Okoronkwo. Just to highlight the success this team is having under Schwartz, the second-most sacks on the team in 2022 belonged to Taven Bryan who had just three. Tomlinson had that many in their win over Arizona.

The improvement in coaching as well as the added talent has forced defenses to turn their attention elsewhere, rather than constantly triple-teaming Garrett. That's resulted in him posting 25 tackles, 9.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, two batted passes, and a blocked field goal in the first eight games of the year.

Not only does that make him the Defensive Player of the Year for the Browns, but he's also been the team MVP. He's been doing all he can to keep his team in the game throughout their offensive struggles and deserves the praise for doing so.

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