Myles Garrett No. 5 on NFL Top 100 Returning Players; Top EDGE Overall

The NFL Network releases the Top 100 players returning the following season each year. One of the greatest things about this list is that the players vote themselves, which takes away the biased views from fans, all of whom would argue for their respective favorites. For the past week, the NFL Network has released the rankings for the top 100 players returning for the 2024 season, culminating on Friday with rankings 1-9. Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett was voted as the fifth-best player returning this season.

Only Tyreek Hill, Lamar Jackson, Christian McCaffery, and Patrick Mahomes voted ahead of him. One of the comments highlighted a popular opinion that most Browns fans share; his impact was not displayed in the stats.

Cleveland's defense had a historical start to the 2023 season and finished among the top in the NFL. Much of that, was due to the monstrous presence of their star defensive end. Garrett's ability to wreak havoc on the field became a consistent issue for opposing coaches and players alike, with consistent praise for his ability to defend the run and pass exceptionally.

Week in, and week out, players and coaches discussed the difficulties in containing Garrett. While his presence didn't always show on the stat sheet, it was often the games in which he had little "statistics" that showed his true dominance. Offenses revered to "dinks" and "dunks", or screens to get the ball out of their quarterback's hands as quickly as possible. This often led to Garrett applying pressure and QBs throwing into traffic, which was then intercepted. It was no wonder he walked away as the Defensive Player of the Year for 2023.

ESPN holds a similar list as the NFL Networks', however, instead of surveying current players, they ask Coaches, Executives, and Scouts within the NFL. With absolutely no surprise here, Garrett was once again rated as the No. 1 EDGE Rusher in the NFL returning for 2024. So much so that even one executive explained, with a degree of profanity, that if you don't double-team him, he will murder you.

Garrett has received a lot of praise throughout the offseason for his efforts in the 2023 season. Some doubt or skepticism, however, much of that comes from people who don't understand football. In addition to earning the DPOY Award, and being voted as the fifth best player to return by his peers; Garrett was also ranked as the No. 1 defensive lineman returning by The Associated Press, the No. 1 EDGE Player returning for 2024 by Pro Football Focus, and only Patrick Mahomes was ranked ahead of Garrett (number two overall) in the Pro Football Network's list of the Top 100 players. In addition, Garrett was the highest-rated EDGE defender in Madden 25 with himself and the Dallas Cowboy's Micah Parsons rated at 98 overall.

If you're a Browns fan, crack a beer, take a seat, and ignore all of them Steelers fans who keep telling you, "You don't know what you're talking about", when you argue about the best EDGE. For now, they have an incredibly weak case that is based on their favorite word: statistics. Across the NFL the Players, Coaches, Front Offices', Owners, PFF, ESPN, and just about every major Sports Broadcasting Network now has confirmed that Myles Garrett is the No. 1 EDGE player in the NFL.

Some of these don't even have T.J. Watt as the second, third, or fourth-best EDGE. It's going to be much more difficult, albeit virtually impossible, for Steelers Fans to argue that they know more about football than those who play, coach, scout, own, and finance teams, and report on it daily. But hey, if anyone can do it, it's them Steelers Fans.

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