DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Myles Garrett Traded

Regarding Campbell... I think as long as we stick to a predominantly man coverage scheme, he shouldn't take significant steps back in terms of his performance within the D. Anytime you lose a player like Garrett, you're going to feel it, but in getting Verse I think we mitigated a lot of that impact. Garrett was #2 in QB hits in 2026, Verse was #6. I used QB hits because we're talking about our DE's impact on our CBs' performance. I do think the CBs are going to have a harder time covering w/o Garrett up front, but I don't think it's going to be a precipitous fall.

There are a lot of moving parts going on with our defense right now. 2nd year players (ex. Graham, Schwesinger) need to continue to develop, the new LB needs to fill Devin Bush's shoes, and we gotta see how well the new coaching staff can pick up where Schwartz left off, and potentially our new rookies getting involved (our new safety, mostly). I expect a small slide, but this team is basically in the same boat as last year because it largely go as far as the defense can carry it.

FWIW: they were not Top 10 last year, they were 14th in Points Allowed - and I feel pretty strongly that is the only stat that matters.


As for the CBs, I suspect you are correct and they will be a liability. We'll know more once the hitting starts.

Agree to disagree on this one.

The offense and special teams greatly influence the points against stat and both of those units were historically bad in 2025. It gave opposing offenses great field position. They were second worst in the nfl in turnover giving up 18 INT and 7 fumbles lost. All of this leads to a worse points given up stat line.

Less turnovers and less 3 and outs(10th worst in the nfl) lead to worse starting field position and better total points scored against for elite defenses.

In the end the numbers are the numbers. One can always seek out mitigating factors but in the end, it is what it is.

Being on the field as much as our D was is going to wear them down. You add a lot of bad field position because of turnovers and the fact we couldn’t move the ball and that’s a recipe for trouble. Our D may take a step back this year because of the Myles trade and JS resigning but if our O can move the ball and our ST play better it may very well make up for the D regressing a bit. And who knows our new DC may be good.

In addition It’s hard to believe that with Todd Monken our offense won’t be anything but better and that goes for our ST’s also. We should see marked improvement with both units.

I agree we should, but there is a long way between should and will. Time will tell. I am hopeful.

And you know, I felt the same way in regards to TOP. It "seemed like" the opponents had the ball much longer than the Browns did. But in reality that just isn't so.

All of the turnovers certainly created a situation where your opponents would score more points but the TOP was much closer than it seemed. At least to me.

The Browns TOP was 29:22 per game. Which means their opponents averaged having the ball 38 seconds more than the Browns.

An actually good defense takes the ball back, forces the 3 & outs themselves or limits those 7's to 3's.

With this offense that's certainly what would have had to be depended on to happen for them to win games. Normally teams don't have to depend on that week in and week out just to eek out some wins. But when you rank 27th in total points scored and #1 in turnovers you do.

Yeah... but everything else being equal, the defense that starts a drive in the shadow of their own goalpost is going to come away with the worse points-allowed stats.

Definitely, but I wasn't commenting in regard to winning, just scoring (or preventing of scoring).
While things do affect each other, and yeah, the defense got handed a lot of short fields.... it is up to the defense to, ya know, defend. There's no reason our defense can't just turn around and get a 3 & Out. Just because they're at our 20 yard line doesn't mean the D can't do its job.

Then, there is the counter argument to the points being elevated due to all the short fields: the yardage stat was lower than it should have been because of the all the short fields.

This was not a Top 10 defense last year. It was good-ish, but it was really more "above average" than actually "good".

I don't really disagree with you but at the same time no defense stops its opponent from scoring in short field situations on a regular basis. Even in your scenario they would be scoring field goals.

But to your point the Browns did give up a lot of TD's last season.

I mean I get that in a perfect world you would be totally correct. But in the real world NFL defenses get 3 and outs about 25% of the time and defenses hold offenses to either a punt or a turnover on about 55% to 60% of all drives. If your scenario played out as you describe, nobody would ever score a TD in an NFL game.

I think last year's defense will be a more dominant unit than this year's defense. You cannot lose the best defensive player in the game and not take a step back. What would have last year's defense looked like if the offense held the ball longer and reduced their time on the field? If the offense would have scored more points and put the defense in better more predictable situations? If the special teams would not have been so terrible and pinned teams back more often? I think last year's defense would have easily been a top 2 to 3 defenses overall in the NFL anchored by the best defensive player in the game.

I think this year's defense will still be decent with young core talent to build around. Graham, Verse, Schwesinger, Mcneil Warran with some vets like Ward, Delpit, Williams, Davis, and Collins. There is still a lot to like about the Browns defense. If the offense and special teams can make a jump the defense being in better game situations and reduced time on the field could still be elite. If the offense struggles and looks like last year without Garrett, the defense will not be as dominant as last year. The attention he got from the offenses even when the defense was tired and in bad situations really helped the unit make plays. The only real disappointing thing with the defense lasts few years in general was lack of generating turnovers. If this unit can somehow improve that stat, then the loss of a great player like Garrett might not be felt as much.