Browns defender tabbed as one of the 5 “biggest winners” of the NFL offseason

The interconnected nature of the game of football makes it so interesting but also adds to the variability. On any given play, 22 players are engaged with each other, the coaching staff has made decisions while the weather, field and game officials have their own impacts. Often during NFL offseasons, free agency and the NFL draft, those details can be forgotten.

Instead, the desire to distill things down to the simplest of forms has led many to only focus on simple numbers.

Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett, for example, might be in a position to set the NFL’s sack record but some fans only focus on the team’s record to decide whether Garrett is good. Correlating wins as a quarterback stat is another example of this distillation.

The Browns offseason was all about getting more weapons for QB Deshaun Watson and getting more help for Garrett on the defensive line. It is the latter that has led Garrett to be listed as one of the five biggest winners from this offseason by Brent Sobleski:

Still, opposing offenses can game-plan around Garrett and the Browns haven’t placed enough talent around the 2017 No. 1 overall pick. In fact, Garrett faced more double-teams last year than any other defensive end, according to TruMedia Sports (h/t ESPN’s Mina Kimes).

Berry acquired Za’Darius Smith from the Minnesota Vikings by flipping a pair of future fifth-round picks. In Smith’s last four healthy seasons, he accumulated 44.5 sacks. The team also signed Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, who posted the league’s third-highest pressure rate among those with 200 or more pass-rush snaps last season, per NFL Gen Stats.

Sobleski also listed losers in his write-up (which is worth your time) but his notes on Cleveland’s defensive line are why many fans are excited to see what it looks like on the field. Garrett has not been surrounded by this level of talent for at least a few seasons, if ever.

Everything being so interconnected in the NFL, the improvements around him will help Garrett but it will also help the linebackers and coverage players as well. If the defense is playing up to expectations, the offense can play more cautiously at times instead of having the pressure to carry the load for a struggling defense.

The NFL offseason is almost over, soon it won’t matter who “won” or “lost” during that time. All that will matter is the performance on the field. Before that happens, Garrett and the rest of the Browns defenders have to like what has been put around them by GM Andrew Berry via free agency, the NFL draft and a trade.