Dawgs By Nature
Reigning Defensive Player of the Year gets love from ESPN’s midseason awards
It hasn’t been good enough for the Cleveland Browns this season despite a talented roster. While there has been good plays and good players game to game, the season is lost due to lack of production and consistency across the roster.
DE Myles Garrett has stated as much and included himself as someone who needs to do more to help the team win. If Garrett had it his way, he’d be leading the Browns to a total for Cleveland. Instead, the best the Browns can hope for is young players developing and a little luck in NFL draft positioning.
Drafting a quarterback or finding a veteran option in free agency could help with Garrett leading the defensive side of the ball.
Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, has seven sacks at the midway point (not really but the 17-game schedule does not provide an actual midseason anymore) of the 2024 season. Cleveland’s star defender also has 15 QB hits and 10 tackles for loss.
On his way to matching or exceeding last season’s stats, Garrett found himself on ESPN’s midseason award list, for midseason Defensive Player of the Year, despite the Browns record:
3. Myles Garrett, Edge, Browns
It has been a disappointing season for the 2-7 Browns, but Garrett continues to overwhelm opposing offensive lines. Consistency has been an issue, with Garrett going without a sack in five of his nine games, but he just produced a three-sack game against the Chargers on Sunday.
If a team needed a player to come up with a pressure on a single play, Garrett is probably the player to choose. He ranks third in pass rush win rate, and according to NFL Next Gen Stats, he has racked up quick pressures on 11.6% of his pass-rush attempts. Nobody else is within 2 percentage points of the 2017 No. 1 pick. Garrett has done that while being double-teamed on nearly 28% of his pass-rush attempts on the edge, which is tied for the highest rate in football
Given Cleveland’s record and some of the struggles on defense, ranking Garrett higher than third would not make sense. The piece has fellow AFC North pass rushers in the top two spots with Trey Hendrickson edging out TJ Watt.
Do you think bad team records should keep players from being anywhere near individual awards in the NFL? What do you think about Garrett’s performance so far this year? Share your thoughts below
