Just because the Cleveland Browns have budding stars in Myles Garrett and Larry Ogunjobi on the defensive line doesn’t mean they shouldn’t keep adding more.
The Cleveland Browns have one of the young, star studded pass rushes in the NFL with Myles Garrett and Larry Ogunjobi combining for seven sacks through three games and hopefully will get even better with the return of a healthy Emmanuel Ogbah.
That said, they must not stop investing on that end and as anyone who watched college football this week saw, pass rushers made critical impacts in the biggest games. There will be a ton of options out there for the Browns in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The two most notable games of the week were going on at the same time, but whether people were watching Penn State host Ohio State or Notre Dame battle Stanford, defensive linemen made substantial impacts.
The entire Ohio State-Penn State matchup was shaped by rushing the passer. Penn State was able to make Dwayne Haskins uncomfortable all game while Ohio State’s Dre’Mont Jones and Chase Young were integral in the Buckeyes being able to secure the victory. Young won’t be eligible until the 2020 NFL Draft and he’s already one of the more impressive prospects for that class.
Notre Dame’s defense has been difficult to score on this year with playmakers at every level. The Cardinal were unable to slow down defensive tackle Jerry Tillery, who notched an incredible four sacks on the evening. This is the second big game on a big stage for the enormous 6-6, 300-pounder who helped the Fighting Irish secure a victory over Michigan with a pair of sacks.
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Jones has been enjoying a breakout season for the Buckeyes and could well decide to forgo his senior season and declare. Every week college football has talented pass rushers putting on a show this year, whether it’s bigger games like this or Boston College defensive lineman Zach Allen putting up a pair of sacks and four tackles for loss en route to victory against Temple.
The current NFL has a shortage of quality offensive linemen and the upcoming crop of pass rushers is only going to exacerbate the situation. The league is trying to prevent injuries to quarterbacks with rules that are more likely increase them. If everything is flagged, then there’s no reason not to go full bore and try to hit the quarterback as hard as possible, take the penalty flag and perhaps win the game in a resulting injury. The NFL sees this coming and they don’t have a good answer for it.
The Browns already have two stars and guys like Ogbah and Genard Avery, but they should strike while the iron is hot and build the best pass rush in the NFL, adding to what are two marquee players through the first month of the season. Not only does this mean the Browns will have an even more devastating front, they’ll be able to get their stars more rest and be able to survive at least a short term injury.
The three most valuable areas a football team can excel are quarterback, protecting the quarterback and disrupting the opponent’s quarterback. There’s hope the Browns have addressed the quarterback, they’re trying to protect the quarterback and they’re well on their way to disrupting the quarterback on a consistent basis.
Given what’s coming in the upcoming NFL Draft, the Browns should take what they are already starting to do well and make it historic. Garrett looks like he can be a Bruce Smith type player while Ogunjobi is as special a pass rusher at the nose as the NFL currently has. If they can add add more talent to this group, including another premier pass rushing defensive tackle, they can have something together that can be on that type of level.
Garrett is under contract for three more years and a team option after this one while Ogunjobi has another two seasons after this one. They can build the type of pass rush that can allow them to contend for the Super Bowl while having the ability to keep it in place for a long, long time.
It’s all there for the Browns, regardless of where they will be picking in the draft, and they should take full advantage to establish the type of pass rush that keeps opposing offensive coordinators and most importantly quarterbacks up at night.