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CLEVELAND — Myles Garrett continues to make his mark, not just on the Browns, but on the NFL as a whole.
Garrett on Sunday became the first player in team history to record 100 career sacks while wearing a Cleveland uniform, as well as the youngest player in NFL history with 100 sacks. The All-Pro defensive end achieved the milestone with an emphatic hit on Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow late in the first half.
Since the NFL began recording quarterback sacks as an official statistic in 1982, 45 players have now cracked the century mark, though less than half of them are currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, is the first to do so before his 29th birthday.
Sunday’s sack gave Garrett 100 1/2 for his career and 12 on the season, with the former No. 1 overall pick recording at least 10 in each of the past seven years. To put things into perspective, the next-highest compiler on the Browns’ official list is linebacker Clay Matthews Jr., who recorded 62 sacks from 1982-93.
Garrett’s achievement comes as his future in Cleveland looks to be up in the air. Earlier this week, amid a disastrous 3-11 campaign, the five-time Pro Bowler declared he was “not trying to rebuild.”
“I want to play here, play my career here,” Garrett told reporters. “But if we choose to do a rebuild and it’s two, three, four years out, I want to be able to compete and play at a high level, play meaningful games and be playing past January.”
Since Garrett arrived in Cleveland in 2017, he has been a part of just two winning seasons, both of which resulted in postseason appearances (including last year). The team has also not advanced passed the divisional round of the playoffs since 1989.
Of the 45 men who have officially recorded 100 career sacks, none had previously played even a game for the Browns prior to Garrett. Pro Football Reference, however, has researched unofficial sack totals dating back to 1960, with four former Cleveland standouts cracking the list (though all spent the majority of their careers with other teams):
- Al “Bubba” Baker (131)
- Jim Marshall (130 1/2)
- Lyle Alzado (112)
- Jack Gregory (106)
Notably, that list does not include Pro Football Hall of Famers Bill Willis and Len Ford, whose legendary Browns careers ended in 1953 and ’57, respectively.
