McGinn Files: The Incomparable Myles Garrett
Soon, Myles Garrett enters rarefied air as the NFL Sack King. How great is the Cleveland Browns' QB killer exactly? Wade Phillips, Ron Wolf, Bill Polian and others articulate to our Bob McGinn.
This is the continuation of a 2023 series looking at active players and their current situation vis a vis what it was entering the NFL draft. The comments from personnel men were made in the months leading up to the draft for my NFL Draft Series, which dates to 1985. Scouting football players is an inexact science, especially when it comes to off-the-field considerations. It has been said that no two evaluators view a player exactly the same way.
By Bob McGinn
Deion Sanders ripped the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August 2022 for enshrining players who had “three or four good years” instead of reserving busts in Canton for “people who changed the game.”
An “upper room” for superior inductees attired in “different color jackets” was Sanders’ recommendation to the Hall. His overture went nowhere unlike Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, whose quest to shatter the NFL’s all-time single-season sack record is in line with his best-ever career sack production on a per-game basis.
Garrett, with 20 sacks after 13 games, needs three more to break the record of 22 ½ set by Michael Strahan in 2001 and tied by T.J. Watt in 2021. The league declared sacks an official statistic in 1982. Pro Football Reference, with a data bank of sacks since 1960, lists Al “Bubba” Baker with 23 in 1978 as its single-season leader.
Garrett, whose tear of 16 sacks in his last seven games makes him the odds-on favorite to rewrite history, would spread some joy into another mirthless season for the Browns.
“For sure,” said Bill Polian, the Hall of Fame general manager for the Bills, Panthers and Colts. “It’s special. It’s like hitting 60 home runs.”
Garrett and the Browns (3-10) will be at Soldier Field in frigid Chicago Sunday looking to dominate Ozzie Trapilo, the Bears rookie left tackle, and not only break but crush the record by season’s end.
“Certainly, he might be on another level than anybody else in this league right now,” said Ben Johnson, the Bears’ first-year coach. “Every team that you see on tape, they have a plan for him, to slow him down. And yet, the chip gets off him and he just walks that tackle on back into the quarterback. And then, heaven forbid you ever leave him alone one on one, that’s really where he shows up. He’s done an incredible job.”
In truth, Garrett has been rather incredible throughout his nine-year career.
Let’s use the sack numbers since 1960 unofficial though they may be until 1982. Garrett’s 122 ½ sacks has him tied for 30th place on the all-time list. The leaders, Bruce Smith (200) and Reggie White (198), played 279 and 232 games, respectively, in their careers. By comparison, Garrett has played just 130.
Doing it well for, well, almost forever presumably would carry weight for Coach Prime. But so might doing it better than anyone on a per-game basis. And, utilizing records maintained by PFR, Garrett stands as the per-game sack king over the last 66 seasons.
Here’s the list of the top 20 players in sacks per game since 1960. Only players with 100 or more sacks were considered. Playoff games were not included.
1. Myles Garrett (2017-’25): Sacks (122 ½), games (130) - sack rate (.942).
2. David “Deacon” Jones (1961-’74): Sacks (173 ½), games (191) – sack rate (.908).
3. T.J. Watt (2017-’25): Sacks (115), games (134) – sack rate (.858).
4. Reggie White (1985-’00): Sacks (198), games (232) – sack rate (.854).
5. Mark Gastineau (1979-’88): Sacks (107 ½), games (137) – sack rate (.785).
6. DeMarcus Ware (2005-’16): Sacks (138 ½), games (178) – sack rate (.778).
7. Lawrence Taylor (1981-’93): Sacks (142), games (184) – sack rate (.772).
8: Claude Humphrey (1968-’81): Sacks (130), games (171) – sack rate (.760).
9. J.J. Watt (2011-’22): Sacks (114 ½), games (151) – sack rate (.758).
10. Jack Youngblood (1971-’84): Sacks (151 ½), games (202) – sack rate (.750).
11. Derrick Thomas (1989-’99): Sacks (126 ½), games (169) – sack rate (.749).
12. Danielle Hunter (2015-’25): Sacks (110 ½), games (149) – sack rate (.742).
T13. Jared Allen (2004-’15): Sacks (136), games (187) – sack rate (.727).
T13. Chandler Jones (2012-’22): Sacks (112), games (154) – sack rate (.727).
15. Coy Bacon (1968-’81): Sacks (130 ½), games (180) – sack rate (.725).
T16. Al “Bubba” Baker (1978-’90): Sacks (131), games (181) – sack rate (724).
T16. Dexter Manley (1981-’91): Sacks (103 1/2), games (143) – sack rate (.724).
18. Harvey Martin (1973-’83): Sacks (114), games (158) – sack rate (.722).
19. Aaron Donald (2014-’23): Sacks (111), games (154) – sack rate (.721).
20. Bruce Smith (1985-’03): Sacks (200), games (279) – sack rate (.717).
Last month, Garrett got a social media shout-out from Lawrence Taylor, one that he much appreciated.
“Ton of respect for this dude goes about his business …” shared LT. “he’s been doing it on another level for a long time now … there’s only so many who truly after gameplans and keep the other side up @ night. Keep doing your thing, Myles!!!”
Another Hall of Famer, Joe Thomas, concluded his 11-year career for the Browns in 2017 when Garrett was a rookie.
“He’s blossomed now into the most dominant pass rusher this league may have ever seen,” Thomas said in February on his Cup of Joe video. “On one rush, I guarantee he is the hardest of all-time (to block).”
Certainly, Garrett’s workout at the combine was one of the finest athletic showings ever by a defensive end. Wade Phillips, three times a head coach in an NFL coaching career that spanned from 1976-’19, coached Smith in Buffalo from 1995-’99.
“He’s probably very similar to Bruce Smith,” said Phillips. “Just the size and the speed and the athletic skills. He’s a fantastic player. It’s amazing what he’s done. Reggie White’s my all-time guy. He had 21 sacks in 12 games in that (strike) shortened season (1987). I don’t think anyone’s ever had close to that. But the record is what it is.”
Phillips made the point that Garrett also has played his entire career for a franchise averaging 6.2 wins a year, not to mention the fact that the Browns play in a northern outdoors stadium with a grass field.
“(Losing) certainly makes it tougher because the opportunities aren’t there,” Phillips said. “When you’re ahead is when, especially at the end of games, they’re gonna throw it. He’s caught in a situation where the last two or four minutes of the game they’re running out the clock instead of having to throw the ball.
“Playing in Cleveland, you’ll have some wet fields and cold games. It’s gonna be tougher. So his accomplishments are pretty remarkable.”
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Polian estimated that Garrett might have had about four more sacks each season if he had played for a winning team and on turf in a domed venue.
“My son, Brian, was on the staff at Texas A&M when he was there so I did stand next to him,” said Polian. “I remember remarking to Kevin Sumlin, ‘He’s Bruce Smith.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ And now he’s in that discussion.”
Polian referred to Smith, White and Gino Marchetti as the “Holy Trinity” of defensive ends. Players from yesteryear tell Polian that Deacon Jones was similar in his era to Smith and White in theirs, but Polian finds him difficult to judge.
“Garrett probably will get to 150 (sacks),” said Polian. “Of the guys playing today, he’s No. 1. If there’s a million-dollar quartet, he’s one of them. If you want to make it five, J.J. (Watt) has my vote.”
Ron Wolf, a longtime Raiders executive who served as GM of the Packers and Buccaneers in a 38-year NFL scouting career that ended with enshrinement in Canton, considered the per-game sack metrics but found them without meaning.
“To me, no, because it’s just a stat,” said Wolf. “I don’t quite get the correlation. Claude Humphrey was the only other guy (among the top 10) with a losing record. Everybody else, they were winners. I guess you have to go by what the guy’s accomplished. You have to admire what the guy’s doing but it’s not helping the team. To me, winning plays an important part.”
The Browns lost to the 49ers, 26-8, on a 35-degree afternoon at Huntington Bank Field two weeks ago. The majority of Garrett’s 61 snaps (91 percent) playing time were against Trent Williams, the 49ers’ Hall of Fame-bound left tackle.
On the first play, Garrett got his hands inside Williams’ chest, jerked him off balance and burst through on the inside before Spencer Burford, the left guard, even could lay a glove on him. The result was a knockdown of Brock Purdy.
Early in the fourth quarter, Garrett struck again. He charged two steps upfield, then countered hard to the inside while knocking down the right arm of Williams. Purdy was buried for a sack in 2.4 seconds.
Garrett finished with the sack, two knockdowns, four other hurries and five tackles, including two for loss. It probably would be categorized as a typical game for him.