The NFL’s 11 best edge defenders

The NFL places a premium on the ability to get to the quarterback. Here are the league’s 11 best pass-rushers heading into the 2020 season.

7. Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns

(AP Photo/David Richard)

Unfortunately, Garrett’s most infamous on-field action in 2019 — swinging his helmet at Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph — cut his season from 16 games to 10 with an indefinite suspension. Nonetheless, the Browns exercised Garrett’s fifth-year option in April, and then made that redundant in mid-July with a five-year, $125 million contract extension that makes the first overall pick in the 2017 draft the highest-paid edge defender on a per-year basis in the league.

When he’s been on the field, Garrett has done a lot to justify the Browns’ faith in him.

Garrett put up 10 sacks in just 10 games last season, with 49 total pressures and 20 stops. At 6-foot-4 and 272 pounds, Garrett brings an unusual combination of size, speed, power, and technique to the equation. As long as he can keep his head on straight, the 24-year-old Garrett should be one of the league’s premier players at his position for a long time.