Cavs’ Edy Tavares named D-League Defensive Player of the Year
April 19, 2017Browns’ Joe Haden: “I think I can be the best corner in the game”
April 19, 2017So-called experts needing to make click-bait stories with so much time to call or rival executives churning the rumor mill around the league, plenty has been made of what the Cleveland Browns will do with the No. 1 overall pick next Thursday night. While Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett is the consensus top prospect, some rumors have began swirling that the Browns could potentially draft a quarterback with the first pick and pass on the top player in the draft. While many members of the Dawg Pound wish the Browns could just announce Garrett’s name already, NFL writers seem to be bored, at least for now.
While talking to members of the media on Tuesday, plenty of Browns defensive players showed their excitement when talking about the possibility of having Garrett as their teammate. Not only to clog up holes, but also to put pressure on the opposing backfield and force the quarterback to leave the pocket. The no-brainer No. 1 pick hasn’t even arrived in Berea yet, but the Browns know that he can (and will) make an immediate impact if and when the Browns call his name on the first night of the NFL Draft next Thursday.
Veteran cornerback Joe Haden may be one of the longest-tenured players on the current roster, but he knows that the decisions in the draft are entirely up to the front office and coaches. Either way, Haden made it known that he wants the top pick to be Garrett, according to cleveland.com’s Dan Labbe:
“Coach (Hue Jackson), (Executive Vice President of Player Personnel) Sashi (Brown), everybody, they’re going to figure it out. But if it’s just my opinion, after that one, that Myles, then I really don’t care. … Watching him on tape I just feel like he’ll be an immediate impact player and I just feel like he’ll be a guy that we could have rushing the passer for years to come.”
The cornerback also knows that an elite pass rusher can help the secondary as well, whether it’s putting pressure on the quarterback and making him get the ball out earlier, hitting the quarterback and therefore causing a bad throw or two, or just getting in the quarterback’s head, knowing that a certain someone is coming off the edge. Either way, a guy like Garrett can help the defense in all areas of the field.
“It helps us out a lot. You know that timing in a quarterback’s head, that knowing that he’s about to get hit and being able to get there and get that pressure on him, it helps out the secondary big time.”
Garrett can make a big impact on the Browns defense, but one of the players he will potentially help the most is a guy like defensive tackle Danny Shelton. Garrett will not only eat up blocks while being double-teamed, but he will also cause team’s to worry about him and forget about Shelton at times as well, therefore turning the nose tackle into an even bigger threat. Shelton realizes this, which is one of the many reasons why he is excited.
“I think selfishly for me, it’d be awesome because it would give me a chance to make more plays when we have a dominant guy on the edge, too.”
Wide receiver Corey Coleman may be coming off of a mediocre rookie season, but he knows what Garrett can bring to the Browns defense. Along with the person he can be off the field as well.
“His stats and what he did at the combine speaks for itself. What I’ve heard about him he’s a great player and a great person.”
Browns players and the Dawg Pound know who’s name the team should call with the first-overall pick next Thursday night. Hopefully for the city of Cleveland, the Browns, and their fans, the front office doesn’t overthink the selection and make another pick that they will regret—again. Make the right (and smart) pick, Browns. Garrett can be a franchise-changing selection, even current Browns players realize (and are excited) about that possibility.
13 Comments
Imagine that.
Browns players want the Browns to draft the player who would be best on the Browns. This way all the Browns players can play at their best on the Browns.
Assets. They are assets.
Browns assets.
They’ve already made this kid one of the team leaders.
If the front office takes anyone else they may as well just move the franchise to Des Moines.
by the way – why do i also hear so many national pundits talking about how the Browns screwed up the draft last year by passing on Carson Wentz??
I wonder what his QBR would look like if he never had a chance to play against the Browns. I’m not even going to look it up, but if I remember correctly, he was bottom-5 in the league in Total QBR. Behind Brock Osweiller.
So what did the Browns screw up? At best, the jury’s still out on Wentz. But I can’t see how you blame the Browns for passing. Especially when you had 2 guys in their first draft with not a lot of prep time to analyze players.
Wentz (and Goff) still have fantastic ceilings but the amazing blindness that many people have for everything after Week 4 of Wentz’s season is absolutely ridiculous.
I noticed no one asked Carl Nassib though.
Ha! Good point!
There is only Myles.
Do It.
https://media.giphy.com/media/wi8Ez1mwRcKGI/giphy.gif
Especially considering that 25% of Wentz’s performance in weeks 1 through 4 was AGAINST THE BROWNS. Dude had 3 legit decent games and a game against the Browns.
Don’t know if this has been touched on yet but had a buddy of mine stumble across this the other day. Happy he shared. Somewhat interesting to see a few of Myles Garrett’s recent follows on twitter included Lebron, Haden, Nassib, and Shelton on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/MylesLGarrett/following
Hopefully this is a sign that he has some inside info that he is the number one. Or its just some more meaningless crap and I contributed to silly season. Time will tell.