CLEVELAND, Ohio – Myles Garrett was somewhere unexpected midway through the third quarter of the Browns’ Week 2 game against the Bengals. Instead of lining up over the Bengals’ left tackle, Garrett was on the other side of the line.
Not only that, he was lined up at defensive tackle, which Bengals right guard Fred Johnson probably wasn’t thrilled about.
Garrett juked his way past Johnson in a flash and then exploded toward quarterback Joe Burrow and swatted the ball out of his hands. Joe Jackson recovered at the Bengals 2-yard line and the Brown scored two plays later.
It was one of Garrett’s four strip sacks on the season, and one of just 16 times he lined up at defensive tackle.
But the fact that he was on the left side of the defensive line – and not lined up against a left tackle – was the start of a new trend for Garrett in 2020.
LEANING LEFT
Garrett finished the regular season with 366 snaps on the right side of the defensive line (mostly on the edge over the left tackle) and 334 snaps on the left. That’s pretty even.
If you break that down by pass-rush snaps, it’s 273 on the right, 195 on the left.
But here’s the thing: over the first half of the season, Garrett was rushing more from the left than the right – 170 snaps to 113. In that Week 2 game, Garrett had 33 rushes from the left (four pressures, one sack, one quarterback hit), 25 from the right (five pressures, one hit).
It took the seventh-most rushes from the right (160) over the second half of the season for Garrett shift his final numbers back to the right.
Being more balanced overall is a trend that began in 2019 after Olivier Vernon arrived in Cleveland. Garrett and Vernon both ended up with more snaps from the right than the left that season, but Garrett’s split (236-176) was a big change from his first two seasons.
He rushed almost exclusively from the right as a rookie, with only six rushes from the left. In his second year he led all edge rushers in rushes from the right (505). It was open season on left tackles for Garrett.
But we’ve seen him used more creatively over the last two seasons, with coaches, perhaps, considering matchups more than in the past.
LEANING RIGHT
In terms of production, though, Garrett’s strength still leans to the right.
Pro Football Focus’ pass rush productivity metric, which measures pressures per snap with more weight given to sacks, had Garrett at 8.1 from the right last season (16th among edge rushers), compared to 6.4 from the left (ranked 53rd).
In 2019, Garrett’s PRP from the right was 10.1 (sixth) and 8.0 from the left (36th).
In 2018, the season he led the league in rushes from the right, he was actually more productive on a per snap basis from the other side. His PRP from the left was 12.3, but that was for only 53 snaps. His PRP from the right was only 6.8, which was unusually low.
When it came to strip sacks this season, direction didn’t seem to matter. Garrett had two from each side.
Garrett went on the reserve/COVID-19 list in Week 11, and his production before and after that two-week stretch has some significant differences.
He led the NFL in sacks (9.5) and was fourth in pressures among edge rushers through Week 10. According to PFF, he had 20 pressures and six sacks from the right, and 20 pressures and four sacks from the left through the first nine games.
After returning, Garrett rushed almost exclusively from the right side (146-12). Perhaps this was recognition of his PRP prior to missing time – 10.2 from the right, 6.6 from the left.
He had four sacks and 16 pressures in Weeks 13-17, per PFF, with all four sacks coming from the right.
FINDING BALANCE
If Garrett is to continue lining up at various spots along the line, the Browns might be in search of a versatile partner at edge rusher. Vernon was forced into that role with the Browns after getting the majority of his pass-rush snaps against left tackles with the Giants. Easier fits include free agents Jadeveon Clowney and Melvin Ingram.
If the Browns are interested in having Garrett focus on left tackles, where he has been most productive in his career, finding a left-side rusher could be in the cards. That’s how players like Watt, Shaq Barrett, Haason Reddick and Matthew Judon make the most sense.
If the Browns are interested in moving Garrett more to the left side, as the first half of last season seemed to indicate, then right-side rushers such as Yannick Ngakoue, Trey Henderson and Bud Dupree would be great fits.
Whatever the Browns decide, the priority will be to create a successful situation for Garrett in 2021 and beyond.
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