Myles Garrett

Nearly every draft expert rates Myles Garrett as the top player in the draft despite a drop in production in his final season at Texas A&M.

(AP)

ABOUT MYLES GARRETT

I wanted to know why so many draft experts have Myles Garrett as the No. 1 pick.

ESPN's Mel Kiper writes: "Garrett ... clearly the No. 1 player in this draft class and would be an immediate help at a position where having an elite player on a rookie contract is like stealing."

ESPN's Todd McShay writes: "Garrett is the best pure pass rusher in the 2017 draft. He played through an ankle injury for much of this season and still finished tied for sixth in the SEC with 15 tackles for loss. He has a lethal combination of first-step quickness, bend power and hand-to-hand combat skills."

NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah writes: "Overall, this is an elite talent with all-pro potential."

I called Dane Brugler (CBSsports.com). He is one of my favorite draft analysts, a product of Mount Union who comes from Warren, Ohio.

"I've had Garrett as my No. 1 prospect from the moment the 2016 draft ended, and it's never changed," he said. "He is the best talent in the draft."

I watched parts of a few games with Garrett. I was not overwhelmed by the 6-foot-5, 270-pound defensive end from Texas A&M. Garrett had 8.5 sacks, but 4.5 were against Texas-San Antonio, hardly a football power.

THE BOSA COMPARISON

"Joey Bosa had only five sacks in his junior season at Ohio State," said Brugler. "But if you studied him on tape, you could see talent. He was being double-teamed, sometimes triple-teamed. Teams often ran away from him."

Brugler's point was Garrett received the same star treatment from opponents in 2016 as Bosa did in 2015. Teams ran plays in the opposite direction. They set up special pass protections. Bosa had 21 sacks in his first two seasons at OSU. It dropped to 5.0 sacks in 2015.

As a rookie, Bosa had 10.5 sacks in 12 games for the Chargers -- and that came after missing virtually all of training camp in a contract dispute.

"Over the last three years, only Tennessee's Derek Barnett had more sacks (33) than Garrett (31)," said Brugler. "You can't just go on sack numbers from last year. He played injured for about half the season."

Garrett suffered a high ankle sprain in a Sept. 24 game against Arkansas. He sat out the next week against South Carolina. Garrett played two games after that -- against Tennessee and Alabama.

"You could see he was only about 75 percent," said Brugler. "He played pretty well against Alabama (7 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss), but you also could see he wasn't at his best."

Garrett sat out two more games after the 33-14 loss to Alabama. He returned for the final three games of the season. In 2015, he played the final six games with his hand wrapped up because of thumb and wrist injuries. He had surgery after that season.

While Garrett has had some injury issues, he also has shown the willingness to play hurt.

THE CLOWNEY COMPARISON

In 2014, South Carolina DE Jadeveon Clowney was the No. 1 pick in the draft by Houston. In his first two seasons, he had 21 sacks.

As a junior, Clowney had only 3.0 sacks. He still impressed scouts with his athleticism.

"Clowney was probably more gifted than Garrett," said Brugler, "but in terms of health and other things, I like Garrett better."

Most scouts believe Garrett has a stronger work ethic and better attitude than Clowney displayed at the same stages of their careers. Clowney played only four games as a rookie for the Texans, suffered a major knee injury and had surgery. In 2015, he played but was still not 100 percent physically.

In 2016, he had 6.0 sacks and was named to the Pro Bowl and 2nd team All-Pro. So it took three years for Clowney to begin to fulfill his promise. Profootballfocus rated Clowney as "one of the game's best against the run." He was rated No. 3 overall, behind Von Miller and Michael Bennett.

GARRETT & ANALYTICS

Profootballfocus is the easiest analytics site to access. They rate Garrett as the top player in the draft. They have data such as Garrett beating blocks to pressure the quarterback 50 times this season. The impressive part is he did it 20 times to the outside, 20 times to the inside and "10 times with a bull rush."

The site also ranked him No. 3 among edge defenders against the run, an improvement over his first two seasons.

"He's a fit for any scheme," wrote Steve Palazzolo. "(He's) perfect for a Browns team that features one of the worst pass rushes in the NFL."

ABOUT THE BROWNS

1. Brugler said Alabama coach Nick Saban "absolutely gushes about Jonathan Allen." He is the 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive lineman for the Tide who just won the Lombardi Trophy. Brugler rates Allen as a "top five player." Saban said Allen can play in the middle of the line or as a defensive end.

2. Very few draft experts take Garrett's video about wanting to play for Dallas as a red-flag. Bruger said Garrett "is a good kid, a worker, people really like his character."

3. Brugler said the obvious about quarterback being the most important position. He believes pass rusher is right behind quarterback. That's why he ranks Garrett so highly for the Browns and anyone else.

4. I'm still not sure about Garrett. The injury issue bothers me, although it does explain the drop in production. I also was horribly wrong about Bosa as a pro, as I recently confessed in a story.

5. Nick Foles appears headed to free agency. He was a backup to Alex Smith in Kansas City. He played two games, completing 36 of 55 passes for 3 TDs without an interception. He did a decent job as a "game manager," the conservative style favored by the Chiefs.

6. Foles has had a career with some nice high spots such as his 2013 season with 27 TDs vs. two interceptions in Chip Kelly's hurry-up offense in Philadelphia.

7. Since 2013, he is 11-9 as a starter, 23 TDs vs. 20 interceptions. He struggled with the Rams in 2015, 4-7 as a starter. It's hard to get very excited about him, but he will have several teams interested. There are so few even mediocre quarterbacks available as free agents.