Browns veteran defensive tackle Shelby Harris is a good guy, and a good teammate.

With that, then, the Browns, or any other NFL team, could always use a lot of players like him on their roster.

But I had to laugh, and talk to myself, when he said the other day that his Cleveland teammate, defensive end Myles Garrett, has the potential to be the greatest defensive player in NFL history.

That may be true, but to actually do it, Garrett has a long, long way to go, and in my estimation, it’s too long. It won’t happen.

Yes, he is truly one of the great ones in the game today. There is no question about it. If somebody said that he is the best defensive end in the game right now, nobody could really deny it.

But to be the best defensive player in the history of the game? Those are strong words indeed.

The guy who has that distinction now, by almost every estimation, is former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor. No one could block him, no one could figure out how to stop him and no one could come up with a game plan that allowed offenses to move the ball consistently against the Giants when he was on the field, which was all the time.

So, there.

When he would come off the edge to go after the quarterback, you might as well have just gone ahead and chalked up a sack for him right then and there because he was going to eventually cause that havoc.

LT changed the way the game was played. He was the defender who could alter the course of not just a series or a quarter, but the entire game.

There have been a number of other great players on defense in the league history, including  Los Angeles Rams, end Deacon Jones, Rams tackle Merlin Olsen, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Mel Blount and a cornerback with several teams, Deion Senators.

There’s Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus,  Giants linebacker Sam Huff, Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert, and Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles lineman Reggie White. You could make a case for any or all of them, and people would believe you. 

The easiest case to be made, though, is for Taylor.

While Myles Garrett is awfully good, I don’t see him ever catching LT, not because he isnt a good enough player, but because Lawrence Taylor was just that good that he stands too far above the rest.

Steve King