Browns: 5 Early bold predictions for Cleveland in 2020

Browns early bold prediction No. 3: Garrett leads NFL in sacks

Just to get this out of the way, there is no excuse for what Myles Garrett did that resulted in his 2019 season ending prematurely due to suspension. There’s no way you can swing a helmet at an opposing player, no matter what happens. Hopefully, the 2017 first overall draft pick can learn from his errors and grow as a player and person from that incident.

The reason that’s the hope is that Garrett is a phenomenal talent. While some criticized the athletic freak for not being as productive as he should’ve been while in college at Texas A&M, he has started to realize his talent over the past two seasons. Over his past 26 games in the NFL, Garrett has 23.5 sacks, 23 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles. Suffice it to say that he’s made a habit of getting into the opposing backfield.

Without question, the Browns are hoping to get 16 games from Garrett again but are also hoping that Olivier Vernon, the defensive end who was acquired as part of the OBJ trade, will be able to stay on the field as well. And if that happens, there might not be any hope of stopping Garrett with any kind of consistency for opposing offenses.

Last season, Garrett was averaged one sack per game before his untimely suspension. If the defensive end, who is just 24 years old still, can take another step forward, it’s not hard to see him bettering that pace and approaching 20 sacks in the 2020 season. If he does that, he should be in the running to lead the NFL in that category.