Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns will begin the post-Myles Garrett era this week when veterans report for training camp.
In place of the reigning Defensive Player of the Year will be Jared Verse, who, while not on the same level as Garrett, is no slouch, as he has posted 99 pressures since entering the league as a first-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Verse does not have to do it alone, of course, as the Browns are banking on Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire to step up and be more than support players while Verse does all the heavy lifting.
Wright, for one, is not shying away from the challenge as he explained during Organized Team Activities in June:
“Somebody gotta take control, like somebody has to take charge. So, just trying to step into that role. It just don’t have to be me; it could be all of us. But I’m taking on that ownership; just because (Myles is) gone, that doesn’t mean the standard that he set since he’s been here, since he was a rookie, is going to change. We are all still going to work and be a top defense; we’re still going to just work our butts off.”
That is all very exciting, but general manager Andrew Berry did try to add another edge rusher as the club originally agreed to a deal with free agent A.J. Epenesa, only to see him fail the team’s physical and eventually sign with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Berry is reportedly still on the hunt, according to cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot:
The Browns are still in the market for a veteran defensive end to add to the rotation and make up for the loss of former Bills edge rusher A.J. Epenesa, who failed their physical before signing with the Eagles. Ideally, the Browns would like to have one in place before the start of camp, but they might have to wait a bit to find their man.
The problem is, the list of available players has some familiar names on it, but they are not necessarily all that exciting. Some of the options include:
