Heading into the season, there was a lot of hope that third-year EDGE Isaiah McGuire would take the next step for the Cleveland Browns. Following a dominant Week 1 outing, that hope was beginning to be realized, but since then, he's tailed off as a pass rusher so much that he's lost his starting spot, a job he'd held since late in the 2024 campaign. Despite McGuire's lack of production against the pass, he's still a quality run defender who demands a rotational role simply because of that.
McGuire worked Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims in Week 1, and followed that up with four pressures against the Baltimore Ravens. Since then, he's logged just three on 74 rushes none over the last two games, and has been replaced as the starting EDGE opposite Myles Garrett by Alex Wright over the past two weeks. He's won only 7.9% of his reps since Week 4 and is simply not taking advantage of the one-on-one opportunities he's receiving.
And yet, McGuire still holds a key rotational role because of his ability against the run. Much of his contributions aren't reflected by the stat sheet, but he is one of the best run-stopping edge players in the league. He packs a lot of functional core and lower-body strength into his 6-foot-4 271-pound frame and what makes him so good is that he rarely makes mistakes. He's so infrequently out of position, as he understands his assignment and responsibility and has the physical ability to execute it at a high level.
That's also why it's so frustrating and disappointing that he's yet to figure things out as a pass-rusher. If he could just be even marginally effective, he would be such a great complement to Myles Garrett because of how reliable he is against the run.