Browns duo among NFL’s 50 best for 2020

The NFL is slowly working its way toward the 2020 season, and once teams actually hit the field the Cleveland Browns will have two of the league’s 50 best players on their roster.

That is according to Pro Football Focus, which selected running back Nick Chubb and defensive end Myles Garrett to its list of the 50 best players for the 2020 season.

According to the site, the list is an attempt to rank the players based on how good they are, regardless of what position they play. (So no over-emphasis on quarterbacks.)

Chubb joins Christian McCaffrey (No. 10) as the only two running backs selected for the list, with Chubb coming in at No. 27:

You can make a good argument that Nick Chubb is the best running back in football right now — the only thing holding the case back is a lack of sample size compared to players like Christian McCaffrey, Ezekiel Elliott and others. Chubb is averaging more than four yards per carry after contact over his NFL career. He has PFF rushing grades above 90.0 in both seasons and has broken 110 tackles on just 490 carries with another 18 broken tackles on the 56 receptions he has to date. Chubb is a dynamic playmaker with the ball in his hands, though perhaps not the receiver people want to see at the position in today’s league.

Chubb’s 1,494 rushing yards in 2019 were the most in franchise history for a running back not named Jim Brown, and Chubb should easily move into the franchise’s all-time Top 10 list early in the 2020 season.

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Garrett comes in at No. 29 as the fifth edge rusher on the list:

Myles Garrett was enjoying a career year before the red mist descended and he swung a helmet at Mason Rudolph, ending his season through suspension. Even after missing so much time, the 49 total pressures he registered was a top-30 mark among edge rushers. His pass-rushing grade of 91.6 was the second-best in the league, a fraction behind T.J. Watt. If Garrett can return to the same level of play he reached last season, we are looking at one of the best pass rushers in the game — somebody whose PFF grade has improved each season of his career.

In 37 career games with the Browns, Garrett has posted 30.5 sacks and become one of the league’s best defensive ends. He had 10 sacks in 10 games last season, putting him on pace to break Reggie Camp’s franchise record of 14 sacks in a single season, a number that should once again be in jeopardy this fall.