The Browns’ Derek Barnett addition looked like a quick fix when it happened. Alex Wright had just gone down with a season-ending Achilles injury, and Cleveland moved fast to patch the edge-rush rotation with a veteran body.
Four games in, though, Barnett has been much more than a stopgap.
While much of the attention around Cleveland’s pass rush has gone to the slow start of edge Jared Verse and the surge from interior lineman Mason Graham, Barnett has been the Browns’ most disruptive edge presence. He’s done it in a part-time role too, playing only 36.7 percent of the defensive snaps.
The numbers back up the eye test. Barnett hasn’t piled up sacks the way Graham has - Graham leads the Browns with 4 sacks and 6 tackles for loss - but he has been wrecking pockets. ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi noted this week that Barnett entered Week 5 ranked eighth in the NFL in pressure rate.
Two late additions to the Browns’ EDGE rotation are paying dividends through four games.
Derek Barnett and Sam Williams rank eighth and 24th, respectively, in pressure rate.
(📸: @Browns) pic.twitter.com/pdKtTCPqRR
- Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) October 6, 2026
According to Pro Football Focus, Barnett leads all Browns defenders with 13 quarterback pressures and 9 hurries. He’s also tied with Maliek Collins for the team lead with 4 QB hits.
That production has helped Cleveland’s pass rush hold together even as the group keeps searching for its best version. The Browns entered the week ranked fourth in overall pressure rate at 46.5 percent, though they’re also blitzing at a heavy clip - 29.6 percent of the time, which ranks 13th in the league, per SumerSports.
The Browns started preparing for Sunday’s road game against the Jets without Barnett, who missed Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury. That’s not ideal for a team that had the luxury of a full week off after Thursday Night Football, and it becomes even more important with Graham expected to miss some time.
Barnett’s best game in a Browns uniform came against the Steelers, when he was rewarded with a season-high 33 snaps. He finished with 6 pressures on Aaron Rodgers, per PFF, even though the box score only showed one QB hit.
Back in August, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees spoke highly of what Barnett could bring.
"I've been a big fan of his over the last few years, just watching him play with relentless effort and toughness, and what he brings to the table from what I've heard as a teammate," Monken said back in August. "He's played in this style of defense, so it's not that big of a transition.”
Defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg has also been mixing and matching, using linebackers and safeties to take some of the load off Verse, Isaiah McGuire and an edge group still settling in. Through the first quarter of the season, only McGuire and Sam Williams - who arrived about a week after Barnett - have recorded sacks.
Even so, the bigger takeaway is hard to miss: Barnett has already outperformed the $3.5 million deal Cleveland gave him. If the ankle issue turns out to be minor, the Browns may have found a lot more than a temporary answer on the edge.
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