The Cleveland Browns defense had every excuse to take a significant step back this season after trading Myles Garrett, but that hasn’t happened. The Browns are still one of the best teams in the league at getting to the quarterback and are 12th in scoring defense despite trading the Hall of Famer.
Young stars like Mason Graham and Carson Schwesinger have stepped up to anchor the front seven, but the standout so far has been cornerback Denzel Ward, who continues to perform like one of the best corners in the NFL. He is having arguably the best year of his career thus far with 34 tackles, three picks, two forced fumbles, and nine pass deflections.
All the stats verify Ward being one of the best in the league, including PFF’s tweet pointing out how Ward has the second-most pass breakups in the NFL over the past five years behind only Sauce Gardner.
Sauce the boss pic.twitter.com/0TEZVonpZ9
— PFF (@PFF) November 14, 2026
Ward has at least nine pass breakups in each of his nine years in the NFL and has already matched a career high with three interceptions this year. After being the focal point of some trade rumors this offseason, the Browns went the other way and decided to give him an extension, and so far that is looking like a brilliant move.
He is the leader of this defense now and his performance justifies it. The five-time Pro Bowler has a legitimate shot at his first All-Pro nod this year if he can keep up his current level of play.
He’ll have his hands full on Sunday against the Houston Texans with Nico Collins and Tank Dell serving as a dangerous wide receiver tandem. Quarterback C.J. Stroud is playing arguably the best ball of his career and the Texans have one of the league’s rushing attacks going up against Cleveland’s lackluster run defense. It’s going to be strength on strength this Sunday and it should be a fun one as the Browns will have to fight to keep their playoff hopes alive.
NEXT: Browns Get Big Injury Update On Denzel Boston For Sunday’s Game
