The Cleveland Browns' defense has been one of the NFL's best units for several years. Of course, Myles Garrett and Jim Schwartz were a great pairing, but in 2026 they have to move forward and see what they can achieve without them.
So when we saw PFF ranking the top defensive lines ahead of the 2026 season, we wanted to see how those losses affected the team. We were surprised to see they fell just outside the top 10. They ranked them in the 12th spot and cited, as expected, the loss of Myles Garrett as part of the drop.
They write, "Trading for Jared Verse as part of the return for Myles Garrett was a shrewd move by the Browns, but there is still an inevitable drop-off from Garrett in 2026. Verse earned an 82.2 PFF pass-rush grade last season,
compared to Garrett’s 93.3. Cleveland will also be hoping for a second-year leap from Mason Graham, its first selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. Graham showed plenty of promise as a rookie, earning a 68.7 PFF grade."
Mason Graham has high expectations coming into his second year. With the departure of Garrett, both he and Verse will have a lot of work to pick up the slack left when they traded him away. With a strong 2026, they could easily find themselves in the top 10 again when these are revisited next year.
This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: PFF ranks Browns' defensive line among the best in the NFL
