When Browns defensive end Myles Garrett was on the field during his rookie season, he showed plenty of the reasons why Cleveland took him with the first overall pick in the 2017 draft.
Due to an ankle injury, a concussion and the resulting recovery time from those issues, Garrett wasn’t on the field as much as he or the team would have liked. Garrett missed five games and knows that “availability” is going to be a key to realizing his full potential in his second season.
The Browns know that as well and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams believes there are ways to curtail last year’s problems on that front.
“He is one of the few guys that I have had to coach that I know I am going to have to keep my hand on to hold back,” Williams said, via Pat McManamon of ESPN.com. “One of the things with him is his overworking. He works so hard because he does not want to be good; he wants to be great. Sometimes he can be his own worst enemy in that respect because he works so hard physically that he has to do a good job with recovery also. The next thing is this -- and he knows -- if he stays healthy, watch out.”
Garrett had seven sacks in 11 games during his rookie season. If he’s on the field more often and the team’s moves to improve the secondary pay off, that number could get a good deal bigger in his second run through the league.