The Cleveland Browns have trouble winning on the field, but when the awards banquets roll around, they seem to clean themselves up.
EDGE running back Myles Garrett won his second “NFL Defensive Player of the Year” award as expected, and is only the second unanimous winner of the award. Second-round draft pick linebacker Carson Schwesinger took home the honor of “NFL Rookie Defensive Player of the Year.”
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Even former Browns consultant Mike Vrabel earned the title of “NFL Coach of the Year” and will play for the league title in just a few days, guiding the New England Patriots in the kind of turnaround the Browns hope to achieve.
Additionally, Garrett took home the “Deacon Jones Award” given to recognize the annual leader in sacks.
Garrett broke the single-season record for most sacks in a single season with 23.0. His other stats included 53 pressures, 14 tackles, 39 QB hits, 60 total tackles, 33 tackles for loss, one batted pass, three forced fumbles, 14 hurries and two missed tackles. His 33 tackles for loss also led the league.
In last year’s NFL draft, the Browns had the first pick in Round 2. General manager Andrew Berry received a slew of calls from other teams wanting to trade that pick. Often, many top-line players selected in the first round will fall in the second round. Berry is known as a good trader and had already made a great trade in Round 1.
However, Berry stood his ground and selected Schwesinger from UCLA. In total, Berry selected three players who had led the nation in at least one category: Schwesinger (90 solo tackles), QB Shedeur Sanders (74.0% completion percentage), and TE Harold Fannin, who led the nation in two categories: receptions (117) and total receiving yards (1,555).
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Schwesinger finished sixth in total tackles with 156 in 2025. He missed the season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals with a quadriceps injury that landed him on the disabled list.
Vrabel was on the Browns staff in 2024 as a coach and personnel consultant after failing to land a coordinator or head coaching job in the offseason. He was fired from his job as head coach with the Tennessee Titans, a job he held for six years. In 2021, he earned his first “NFL Coach of the Year” distinction. Vrabel owns three Super Bowl rings as a linebacker for the Patriots, the same team he now coaches.
Cleveland, like New England did last year, has a new, veteran coach at the helm. Monken’s journey and experience are different than Vrabel’s, but he still has a lot of experience. Garrett, Schwestinger, the 2025 NFL draft, the additional first-round pick in 2026 and Monken should give Browns fans reason to be hopeful for the future.
NFL Honors was just a reminder of that.