The AFC North has a lot of interesting storylines in it. Usually, it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens stealing the show. However, while the Cleveland Browns have been mostly terrible for the past handful of decades, they do have an elite edge rusher in Myles Garrett. He and the Steelers’ T.J. Watt have been division rivals since each were drafted in 2017.
That’s a battle that seems to sway back and forth, in terms of the argument of which player is better. Watt has been on the winning side of that argument plenty with the Steelers being more of a winning team in general. But to former Raven Terrell Suggs, Garrett is clearly the better player.
“They need to free Myles Garrett from Cleveland,” Suggs said on Kevin Clark’s This Is Football podcast. “I feel like, I think he’s the best player in football. Between him, T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons. I think Myles Garrett is like the best player in football right now.”
The Steelers got the better of Garrett earlier in this season when they dominated the Browns at home and made Garrett turn invisible. However, that’s one of the only times that’s happened this season.
The four-time All-Pro may be putting together his best season yet in 2025. Led by a monster five-sack game against New England, Garrett now has 10 sacks on the year, just one behind the league’s lead. And while Watt has arguably been better in recent years, Garrett has a legitimate argument over him this season.
Most of the reason for that is the difference in pass rushing between the two. Garrett has 10 sacks and 15 QB hits. Meanwhile, it’s been much quieter for Watt, who has just five sacks and 12 QB hits. There have also been legitimate questions about Watt’s decline this year, and those conversations haven’t really happened regarding Garrett.
Another difference between the two right now is run defense. Garrett led the NFL in 2024 with 22 tackles for a loss, and he’s already been better this year with 15 at the halfway point. Meanwhile, Watt has just six. Granted, teams certainly make an effort to run away from Watt, and he faces plenty double-teams and such. But it’s hard to argue for him against the league’s leader in Garrett.
The argument between Watt and Garrett has been a tough one in recent years. However, Garrett may be starting to pull away in that conversation this season.