Tape Talk: breaking down Myles Garrett’s DPOY-caliber campaign

One minute and twenty-two seconds of the third quarter remain at M&T Bank Stadium as Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson surveys the field, ready to take a snap on a second and eight. Up 24-17 and at the opponent’s 38-yard line, it’s a prime opportunity for the Ravens offense to extend the lead to two scores and put away their rival Cleveland Browns in a crucial divisional matchup.

Jackson drops back, and with immediate pressure in his face, steps up quickly in the pocket, as he has so many times on many of his magician-like runs. Only this time a 272-pound wrecking ball loops around a Ravens guard to team up with a Browns linebacker for the sack – Myles Garrett.

Next play — third and seventeen now around the fifty, the Ravens could still extend their lead behind the leg of eight-time All-Pro kicker Justin Tucker. Jackson calls for the ball. Garrett launches off the line and immediately gets his hands inside Ravens right tackle Patrick Mekari’s chest plate. He then extends his right arm, seemingly bench-pressing his opponent and getting Mekari enough off balance to push him to the ground as he glides toward Jackson for the sack. Garrett stands up with intense bravado, hard-stepping and flexing – no Ravens score, and the Browns proceed to mount a spectacular 33-31 comeback.

This two-play sequence in Sunday’s Browns vs. Ravens game is but one of the myriad of special moments Garrett has delivered this fall. He’s been a force of nature since entering the league as the No. 1 overall selection in 2017, yet this season, leading defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s historic defense, the four-time All-Pro looks poised to finally be honored as the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.

In the first week of my new Tape Talk column, we’ll dive into Garrett’s fit in Schwartz’s defense, how he’s been demolishing offensive linemen all year, and his prospective case for earning the DPOY award come February.

Garrett has comfortably been in the elite EDGE conversation since his rookie year in 2017, recording over 30 pressures in all but one season while being only one of six NFL players ever to record double-digit sacks in each of their first six years in the league. But despite having one of the true few defensive cornerstones in the sport, Cleveland has failed to consistently field an elite defense during Garrett’s career, ranking top five in yards per play allowed only once since his arrival.

Last year in particular, the Browns defense was solid but nowhere near spectacular, ranking 15th in total yards allowed (5631), 16th in yards per play allowed (5.4), and 16th in first downs allowed (329). Ultimately, it was clear that the unit would need to take a leap to fulfill the team’s lofty Super Bowl aspirations, particularly with its $230 million quarterback now available for the full season.

Enter Jim Schwartz, the Browns’ novel defensive coordinator for the 2023 season who has hyper-energized the Browns defense – through ten weeks, he’s orchestrated a defensive masterclass that has seen the Browns D rank first in offensive plays allowed (482), first in total yards allowed (2184), first in first downs allowed (113), and second in yards per play allowed (4.5), bolstering the Browns toward a current spot in the playoffs.

Schwartz isn’t reinventing the wheel to help elevate the Browns unit, but rather implementing his long successful trademark system previously seen in places like Tennessee and Philadelphia: a standard 4-3 front (referring to a front seven composed of four down linemen and three linebackers) with heavy amounts of man coverage behind it and an exotic twist/stunt game.

4-3 defenses are popular and can be extremely effective as they allow three linebackers to roam free without pass-rushing responsibilities. The tradeoff, however, is that the system requires very good defensive linemen, and particularly exceptional defensive ends who are expected to be the premier pass rushers of the system while also being sound run defenders.

On paper, this makes Myles Garrett the clear lynchpin of Schwartz’s system. With his uncanny pass rush and run defense abilities, he should be able to free up the Browns’ linebackers while also opening up pass rush and run support opportunities to other linemen due to his high double team percentage (Garrett’s 31% is the highest among NFL edge rushers).

Through ten weeks of the season, it’s clear that he has not only met expectations but exceeded them. Garrett boasts the second-highest pass rush win rate among EDGEs at 33% while facing the most double teams, and he’s currently tied for first among all players in sacks (11.0) and second in QB hits (20). As a run defender, he’s tied for second among all EDGEs in run support win rate (38%) while ranking 19th among all players in tackles for loss with nine.

The numbers tell us Garrett is dominating, but how exactly is he doing it? One word: physicality. This is not to discredit him as a master of his craft — Garrett is a strong technician at the defensive end position; he boasts an arsenal of pass rush moves and uses clever fakes to throw linemen off balance. His hand fighting and placement abilities in run support and pass rush are on display almost every snap. Yet what separates him from the rest of the pack is his uncanny physical ability and competitiveness. At 6-foot-4, 272 pounds with the frame of a bodybuilder, Garrett looks like he was made in a lab to rush the passer, and plays like it, too.

He can generate elite power in his bull rush with a lightning-quick get-off, and phenomenal ankle and knee flexion ability which allow him to play with low pad level, get under any tackle’s pads and walk them back to the quarterback. Watch his tape against the San Francisco 49ers, and you’ll see Garrett comfortably walking back ten-time Pro-Bowler Trent Williams into Brock Purdy’s lap multiple times.

Garrett can win around the edge too, showing very good body control and balance to get low and parallel to the ground to round the arc. This may sound standard for an NFL rusher, yet Garrett does it at a truly elite level at 272 pounds and in the frame of a pure power rusher. Here he is getting parallel to the ground to force an incompletion in Week 2′s Browns vs. Steelers game.

To put it into context, Garrett displays Von Miller-like bend in a frame closer to that of JJ Watt. Alien.

He’s dominant in run support, too: Garrett is physically imposing at the point of attack and shows the ability to both two-gap (an assignment responsible for two gaps at a time) or penetrate (an assignment leveraging a single gap) due to the foot quickness and lateral agility that allow him to zoom into the backfield for a tackle for loss. Ultimately, Garrett combines astonishing athletic ability with tremendous physicality, resulting in dominant EDGE play rep after rep.

Jim Schwartz has played a part in Garrett’s career 2023 season through clever schematic wrinkles. He’s varied Garrett’s alignment, particularly on late downs, placing him in a myriad of positions ranging from middle linebacker to nose guard to create favorable matchups and easy pressures. His three percentage point increase in blitz rate from what the Browns were running in 2022 has allowed for Garrett’s double-team rate to decrease a bit (despite it still being the highest in the league) and thus give him additional one-on-one opportunities. And his creative use of Garrett in the stunt game has allowed the seven-year vet to get on the move and enjoy easier rushes on the quarterback.

However, on the majority of snaps, in a position that isn’t as scheme-dependent as others, Garrett has just gone out there, lined up against his lineman (often two or more) and scorched competition play after play as the alpha of a Browns defense which now looks to be the cream of the NFL crop.

Now 6-3, the Browns are currently the AFC’s sixth seed, putting them in decent position to push on in the latter half of the season to secure a playoff berth. This is mostly due to their defense — the Browns offense ranks 30th in yards per play (4.6) and 26th in touchdown percentage (2.6 percent).

Quarterback Deshaun Watson has looked like a shell of his former self, ranking 21st in passer rating among all quarterbacks, and is actually now reportedly out for the season with an injury to his throwing shoulder suffered against the Ravens. If the Browns continue to win football games off the backs of their defense and in spite of subpar quarterback play, Garrett would have a clear narrative for DPOY.

Jim Schwartz has been the architect of the Browns’ defensive turnaround, yet Garrett has been his greatest tool. His All-Pro level play at the defensive end position stemming from his tremendous physical gifts and every-down competitiveness facilitates high-level play for the rest of the defense, thus helping elevate a unit currently enjoying one of the most impressive seasons of all time and powering the Browns to playoff contention. While it’s only Week 11, we may as well hand the DPOY trophy to No. 95 up in Cleveland.