(Photo: Bleacher Report)
6. Myles Garrett– Four have been revealed and one remains for the first half of the project. For a decade, Aaron Donald was labeled as the best defensive player in the league and rightfully so. He retired in 2024 and I was wondering who would hold that title after he called it a career. You could make a case for T.J. Watt and look at the impact he has on the Steelers and I wouldn’t disagree with you if you had mentioned Micah Parsons either. Both of them are good, but my vote would to the guy in Cleveland, Ohio playing for the Browns. He just made his debut in 2022 and returned last year, now, he’s back for the second consecutive year. Myles Garrett checks in at number six and is my top-ranked defensive player in the league.
When he was entering the league, Hall of Famer and legendary EDGE rusher Bruce Smith stated he wanted to work with Myles because he saw a lot of himself in number 95. I’ve often said he’s a more athletic version of Bruce because if Bruce had even some of what Myles has in his arsenal, we could be talking about Bruce being mentioned as one of the two greatest defenders in the history of this sport. Myles has many moves at his disposal. First, let’s look at his release off the snap as it’s incredibly elite and he’s so quick and knows how to beat tackles to get to his spot. At 6’4 and 270 pounds, Myles is a freak athlete and it shouldn’t be fair as to how quickly he moves for a man of his stature. When you’re in the trenches regularly, one thing coaches will preach is for you to always remain low and the lowest man wins and Myles is the poster child of this lesson because he bends and displays such incredible flexibility to get past people which makes him even more of a challenge to defend because of his way to dip and bend around the corner. I’ve always liked how disruptive he is whether it’s rushing the passer or stopping the run and if you don’t have him chipped or have an extra guy lined up where he is, he is going to feast throughout the game. Even when you double or triple team him, he finds a way through and gets to where he wants. I want to go back to the athleticism for a second if I may and I know in his spare time, Myles plays a lot of basketball. I remember in week one during the 2023 season against the Bengals and Myles was lined up over the center and he was pretending to dribble a ball between the legs and once the football was snapped, he did a euro step and got to Joe Burrow. Furthermore, I had never seen anything like that in all my years of watching football.
Truthfully, I didn’t expect Myles to resign with the Browns and I remember him saying he wanted to be traded and I was for it because he had been so productive on a team that hasn’t been the greatest, but both sides were able to come to an agreement and simply put, you can’t let a guy of his caliber just up and leave. He’s become the Browns best player and continues to show why he is the best defender in the league. I see another Defensive MVP in his future.
