Why the Browns' Myles Garrett victory lap was short lived

The Cleveland Browns have had one of the more talked about offseasons in their recent history, a near-full transformation capped off by trading Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams. At the time, it was a bit of a shock considering the 2025 season Garrett had, but it was also understandable considering the haul the Browns got back for him and the simple fact that Garrett was tired of losing — and wasn't on Cleveland's new timeline anyway. 

Garrett was placed on the injured reserve list on Sunday after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Because of the IR designation, Garrett will miss at least four games. And right on cue, Browns fans started thinking maybe life without their franchise player wouldn't be so bad after all.

And then Sunday happened. In a matter of hours, Browns fans were reminded just how good Garrett was and how good he'd made this defense during his time in Cleveland. Jacksonville hung 34 points on Cleveland, and Jaguars receivers were open all over the field all day. Losing Garrett hurt this defense more than we originally thought, and it’s clear this Browns team is far from playoff ready. 

Cleveland will miss Myles Garrett more than they realized

One thing the Browns’ season opener taught us is that Garrett covered up a lot of holes in the secondary. Without an impact pass-rusher, that unit got exposed in Jacksonville. Part of that problem was the defensive front just didn’t produce a good enough pass rush to disrupt Trevor Lawrence; the Jags jumped out to a 24-0 lead while Lawrence had three first-half touchdown passes. 

Cleveland was going to lose this game anyway, regardless of whether Garrett was still around or not. The offense waited until the fourth quarter to come alive. At one point, Jacksonville had 27 plays while Cleveland 28 total offensive yards; the defense isn’t to blame for this. But that doesn’t mean this team doesn’t miss Garrett, either. 

Jared Verse was brought in as the centerpiece of the Garrett return after racking up 143 pressures last season, which was sixth in the NFL. In his first game in his new threads, he looked like just another body on the defensive line rather than a destructive force that can change the game. There’s time for Verse to grow into the role of being an elite pass rusher. Cleveland needs him to be just that, or they’ll always look back at letting Garrett go with a tinge of regret.

Will Cleveland’s defense ever look as good as it did with Myles Garrett?

Cleveland’s defense can and probably will be just fine without Garrett. It’s been just one game, so let’s not overreact. This season was always going to be a struggle considering the quarterback situation. Even if Verse played the best game of his career, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that the Browns were losing this game and the offense was going to be non-functional.

No player will ever replace what Garrett meant to this defense. He was an unstoppable force in every sense of the word. Does Cleveland need that from Verse? Not necessarily. But they do need a more well-rounded defense. At the end of the day, Garrett covered up a lot of the Browns’ weaknesses on defense because he was just that good. Teams no longer have to game-plan an entire scheme around where Garrett is on the field. That exposed just how much work Cleveland has to do to improve their defense. 

They still have some young players in the secondary that could benefit from some more experience and they need to probably add another corner as well. Cleveland shouldn’t regret trading Myles Garrett. Instead, they should simply be patient as this new young core molds itself into a new defensive era.

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