LAS VEGAS — While the Cleveland Browns' season continues to disappoint, Myles Garrett is assembling one of the most dominant campaigns by a defensive player in NFL history — and he’s only getting better as the season progresses.
The All-Pro edge rusher added three more sacks to his season total in Sunday’s win over the Raiders, pushing his 2025 tally to an NFL-leading 18 sacks through just 11 games. Most remarkable is his recent surge of production — a stretch so impressive it’s literally rewriting the record books.
“14 sacks in the last four games. It’s some kind of a record, the most in a four-game span, beating out Michael Strahan for that,” Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot said on the latest Orange and Brown Talk podcast. “I don’t see how you don’t give him NFL Defensive Player of the Year again this year.”
At his current pace, Garrett would finish with approximately 27 sacks, which would obliterate the NFL single-season record of 22.5 held by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. The historic 22.5 mark suddenly seems not just attainable but almost inevitable given Garrett’s recent production.
What makes Garrett’s dominance all the more impressive is that it’s happening despite opposing offenses designing entire game plans around stopping him. Earlier this season, Garrett actually endured a brief sack drought as teams deployed extreme measures to neutralize him.
“There was a point in time where he went through a three-game drought or a four-game drought even without a sack,” Cabot noted. “And we were starting to wonder what’s going on with Myles. Teams are knowing what to do with him. And he has just gone gangbusters since that time.”
Perhaps the most telling indicator of Garrett’s absurd standards comes from his teammates’ reactions. When a three-sack performance barely raises eyebrows in the locker room, you know you’re witnessing greatness.
“I was laughing at the Joel Bitonio quote after the game that we’re to the point that Myles has three sacks and it’s a down game,” Browns reporter Ashley Bastock said. “And Shelby Harris told me after the game, this is what you expect out of Myles. Like he knows Myles is that good and this is the norm, essentially.”
A key factor in Garrett’s surge has been Cleveland’s improved interior defensive line. After years of struggling to find consistent inside pressure to complement their star edge rusher, the Browns have assembled a formidable group featuring Maliek Collins, Mason Graham and Shelby Harris.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’ve got Maliek Collins, Mason Graham, Shelby Harris, they’ve got kind of a wave of guys now in the middle of that line, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re seeing that and also now Myles Garrett is having his best season,” podcast host Dan Labbe observed.
The interior pressure has created a perfect storm — quarterbacks can’t step up in the pocket to avoid Garrett’s edge rush, often leading to sacks for the star defender or his teammates. In Sunday’s win alone, the defense tallied 10 total.
What’s even more frightening? Garrett delivered his three-sack performance against Las Vegas while battling illness.
“He was sick on Friday and he was up at the podium today coughing,” Labbe revealed.
Want to hear more about Garrett’s historic season and how the Browns’ defensive line has become one of the NFL’s most feared units? Check out the full Orange and Brown Talk podcast for complete analysis of Cleveland’s defensive dominance and Garrett’s unstoppable campaign.
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