Myles Garrett
He’s a freak athlete, the best in this year’s draft, actually.
Garrett will have a chance to be Cleveland’s best player, given his athletic ability and immediate chance to affect the team. He’s one of the fastest linemen in the league; the 6-5, 272-pound defensive end ran a blazing-fast 4.64-second 40-yard dash.
The NFL’s Lance Zierlein compared the Texas A&M product to future Hall of Famer Julius Peppers.“[Garrett is an] elite edge rusher who possesses rare explosiveness and the fluid-movement skills and agility of an NBA shooting guard,” he said on Garrett’s draft profile. “His ability to explode into the backfield through a gap or around the edge gives him disruptive potential on every snap.”
The Browns ranked 30th in sacks last season with only 26 on the year. Garrett finished his three-year Aggie career with 31 sacks in 34 games. He also piled up 47 tackles for a loss.
Garrett starred in Texas A&M’s 4-3 defense, the same scheme Cleveland uses. Brown defensive coordinator Greg Williams will have a perfect matchup nightmare to plague offenses within the upcoming season, giving Garrett a smooth transition from the college level to the professional one. The only knock on Garrett is his rushing defense, but even that isn’t a glaring issue.
When it comes to defensive rookies, he commands the top all-around game in his class and has the best chance at taking home the award for Rookie of the Year.
— Adam Hensley
Deshaun Watson
Bill O’Brien and the rest of the Texans’ organization are saying Watson will be the backup this season to Tom Savage. I don’t buy it.
Maybe that’s the plan right now, before Watson has thrown a pass as a Texan. But Savage does not give Houston a better chance at winning than Watson does.
Savage has a very low ceiling. He is a Brian Hoyer. Watson, on the other hand, has shown that he is a special player. And I’ll go as far as to say comparing Savage and what he has done in the NFL and what Watson has done in college football isn’t even apples-to-oranges.
Watson absolutely shredded Alabama defenses two years in a row. Clemson scored 40 points in a loss in 2016 and 35 points this past season in a win over the Crimson Tide.
In those two years, Alabama has placed 11 defensive players in the NFL in the draft. That’s an NFL team playing defense against the Clemson Tigers, and Watson, in his two games against the Tide, threw for 825 yards, rushed for 116 yards, and scored 8 touchdowns.
Once Watson beats Savage out for the starting spot (which will happen before Week 1), he will be able to make plays throwing to such guys as DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller, Braxton Miller, and Lamar Miller.
The Texans have been a quarterback away from being a Super Bowl contender for more than a few years now. Watson wins big games.
I think taking Watson at No. 12 was the pick of the draft. With the weapons he has in Houston, he will put up big numbers.
— Blake Dowson