By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher As we have reported, the Cleveland Browns are reportedly down to Myles Garrett and Mitchell Trubisky to be the team’s top pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. In this story, we’ll look closer into Garrett and the potential addition he brings. Garrett would potentially bring a pass rusher off the end to potentially stop offenses for years to come if he is the answer. Head Coach Hue Jackson has reportedly said that he would like to draft Jackson following a private dinner between the two. The Browns pass rush in 2016 was lackluster at best. In fact, just one player had more than 5.0 sacks on the season. Emmanuel Ogbah led the team with 5.5 sacks. Cam Johnson was the nearest teammate to Ogbah, who had 3.0 sacks. The rest of the defense had 2.0 sacks are less. Garrett, alone in 2016 in college football, had 8.5 sacks. The Browns have not had a pass rusher with 8.5 sacks or higher since the 2014 season when Paul Kruger led the team with 11.0 sacks. When Kruger led the team in sacks, the Browns went 7-9 in 2014. However, in the past two seasons with a lackluster pass rush, the team has gone 4-28. In addition, their points differential was over 100, as they were -154 in 2015 and a -188 in 2016. The -188 point differential was the worst since 2000 — the team’s second-year back after returning to the NFL in 1999 — when the team had a -258. In comparison, when Kruger led the team in sacks with 11, the Browns point differential was -38. Christian Kirksey led the team with 11 tackles for a loss in 2016, while Ogbah had a team-high 16 quarterback hits. Both players were actually the only players above 10 in those categories. Ogbah was the nearest player to Kirksey with 8 tackles for a loss. Kirksey and Carl Nassib were the closest players to Ogbah with seven quarterback hits. If Garrett pans out, like many experts believe he will, Garrett would likely increase those stats for years to come. The super talented pass rusher played in 34 games for the Texas A&M Aggies. In the three seasons, Garrett had 141 tackles, including 47 tackles for a loss, according to College Football Reference. He also had 31.0 sacks with one interception, seven forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and five pass deflections. As a sophomore, he had 19.5 tackles for a loss and 11.5 sacks. He also had his lone college interception in 2015, as well, with five forced fumbles.
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