Texas A&M defensive ends coach Terry Price is convinced the Browns must draft Myles Garrett first overall on Thursday not only because he considers Garrett one of the most talented prospects to ever play college football, but also because of his character.
“No issues off the field, no issues with work ethic, no issues with drugs, alcohol, law enforcement,” Price said in a recent phone interview with the Beacon Journal. “He’s as good a young man as I’ve been around in 24-plus years of coaching.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported April 11 the Browns were split on whether to draft Garrett or North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky at No. 1. Although Garrett is still considered the favorite, buzz about the organization’s bigwigs debating whom to select at the top spot has been loud for two weeks and counting.
Perhaps the Browns will draft Garrett at No. 1, as most people expect, and target Trubisky in a trade up from their second first-round pick at No. 12. NFL Network’s Michael Silver reported Tuesday the Browns have talked with three teams in the top eight about moving up from No. 12. Last week, head of football operations Sashi Brown said the team is “open” to trading up in the first round.
Either way, Price believes the resounding answer at No. 1 should be Garrett.
“There’s no question,” Price said. “To me, there’s no thought process. There is no debate. He’s the best player in the country. He’s the No. 1 overall pick, and he’ll make a team a very, very happy franchise for a whole bunch of years.”
Of course, Garrett would make the Browns happy if they pick him and he becomes an All-Pro defensive end. But Price also sees him as a face of a franchise, someone who’ll represent his new city in the best way possible.
Garrett earned the reputation partly because he learned from the mistakes his older brother, Sean Williams, made during his basketball career. Williams had troubles with marijuana and drug-related arrests. He played in the NBA for parts of five seasons but never met expectations as a first-round pick (17th overall) of the New Jersey Nets in 2007.
In a Sports Illustrated story published in 2015, Garrett recalled crying when he was 12 because he caught Williams, who’s nine years older, smoking marijuana. Garrett begged his brother to stop, to no avail.
“My brother was an example for what not to do,” Garrett told the magazine. “The weed, it’s a distraction. A lot of other things can be distractions — girls, other drugs, fame and ego. I don’t want any of that to distract me from my main goal, which is going to the NFL and being the best defensive lineman or player who ever played.”
Garrett loves Williams, Price said, but he’s also made it clear how much his brother’s miscues have influenced him.
“He’s expressed over and over again ever since he’s been here he wants to be one of the best of all time,” Price said, “and he knows drugs and alcohol will prevent you from having a chance to achieve those goals.”
Ex-Texas A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said Garrett has “his head on straight. He’s learned from his brother’s past. He doesn’t smoke. He doesn’t drink. He’s just a great kid.”
The Browns need a great player, too, and Price has no doubt Garrett will deliver.
Force on the field
Garrett, 6-foot-4½ and 272 pounds, showed elite pass-rush ability right away at Texas A&M, setting the Southeastern Conference record for sacks by a freshman with 11.5 in 2014. Houston Texans Pro Bowl edge rusher and former No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney previously held the record with eight sacks as a freshman at South Carolina in 2011.
Garrett had 12.5 sacks as a sophomore in 2015. His sacks dropped to 8.5 as a junior this past season, when he missed two games with a high-ankle sprain and then pushed through the injury during the second half of the season. He left Texas A&M with 145 tackles in 36 games, 48.5 for loss and 32.5 sacks.
“He does a great job with pre-snap keys, snap count, cadence, O-line stances, he’s gotten really good at reading those and identifying run or pass,” Price said. “He has obviously a great ability to get off on the rock and time the snap up.
“He does a great job of bending the edge. He’s as flexible as anybody I’ve ever been around, and it helps when you try to bend and dip the corner on those big, tall offensive tackles. All those things really make it hard for him to get blocked.”
Spavital said Garrett’s freakish athletic prowess — he posted a time of 4.64 seconds in the 40-yard dash and a height of 41 inches in the vertical jump last month at the NFL Scouting Combine — often ruined the offense’s day in practice.
“He can screw an install up,” Spavital said. “He’s got low pad level. When he rushes that edge, he can get very, very low, and his arms are so long. He creates so many bad mismatches because he’s long and he’s powerful and he’s fast.”
But Garrett’s game isn’t perfect.
Under scrutiny
Although draft analysts consider Garrett the consensus best player in this class, he has critics, including former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive linemen Anthony “Booger” McFarland and Warren Sapp, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Two weeks ago, McFarland said on ESPN’s Mike and Mike he hasn’t seen Garrett’s athletic prowess translate enough into playmaking and he questions whether Garrett loves the hitting required of defensive linemen. Sapp chimed in this past weekend in an interview with ESPN.
“I don’t see it from this kid,” Sapp said. “I see the splash plays. Everybody gets those. Where’s the game he took over? Where? Any defensive lineman who’s the No. 1 pick, you turn up and you say, ‘There it is!’ This kid, no, I don’t. I’m a pretty plain and frank guy, and I watch the tape and he disappears. I watch the tape, and he absolutely disappears.”
Sapp added he doesn’t think Garrett is as good as Courtney Brown, the defensive end the Browns drafted first overall in 2000 who didn’t pan out.
“I see a lazy kid that makes four plays a game,” Sapp said. “This is the No. 1 guy? No, no, no. This ain’t even close.”
Price argued people often rip Garrett without realizing he was hurt last season.
“This guy’s out there trying to play on a freaking high-ankle sprain, and that’ll slow you down as much as anything,” said Price, who also played in the NFL. “As much as he had at stake this season, there were many, many times where he could’ve taken himself out of the game, but he kept saying he wanted to stay in for the team.”
Garrett’s strength isn’t run defense, but Price insisted he improved it every year.
“He got his weight up to 270 pounds and was physical at the point of attack and did a great job getting off blocks,” Price said.
Price also defended Garrett’s production. Of his 32.5 sacks, 20.5 came against non-Southeastern Conference opponents and 16 came against non-Power Five opponents.
“He got double and triple teamed more than anybody I’ve ever coached in 24 years,” Price said. “That happened in [SEC] games because people knew he was. A lot of nonconference teams did not prepare as well or did not have the guys to prepare as well.”
Even Garrett’s interests outside of football are viewed with skepticism by some. He loves dinosaurs and aspires to study paleontology at Ohio State. He also has a passion for poetry and music from the ‘70s and ‘80s.
“Just because he has an interest in paleontology doesn’t take away from anything he does on the football field,” Price said. “He loves the sport.
“One of his biggest hobbies is he likes to watch the great pass rushers of all time. When I was going to talk to him in the locker room before the game, most guys, they listen to music and jam out, and about 100 percent of the time he’s on the phone watching YouTube videos of Lawrence Taylor or Bruce Smith.”
He loves the game enough, Price said, to embrace helping the Browns reverse their fortunes.
“When he came to our place, we were one of the worst teams in the country on defense, and he helped us get better every single year,” Price said. “He’ll have no problem helping Cleveland improve and get better. He’ll be a cornerstone.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.