Cleveland Browns add elite defensive playmakers, TE with three first-round picks

The Cleveland Browns got significantly better defensively on the first night of the draft when they took defensive end Myles Garrett from Texas A&M with the first pick and safety Jabrill Peppers from Michigan with the 25th pick after trading the 12th pick to Houston.

The Browns got the Texans' 2018 first-round pick in the trade.

Cleveland then traded the 33rd pick and 108th pick to Green Bay to select tight end David Njoku from Miami of Florida at No. 29.

Garrett said he will use as motivation remarks Warren Sapp made last week in an interview with ESPN. Sapp blasted him, saying in an interview: "I watch the tape and he disappears. I watch the tape, and he absolutely disappears."

Garrett, during a conference call with media covering the Browns, said he will be motivated to prove Sapp wrong.

The knock by Sapp, who had a Hall of Fame career with Tampa Bay and Oakland, followed the criticism that Garrett takes plays off.

"It adds more fuel to the fire; it's burning hot right now," Garrett said. "If anybody counts me out, that's not true for either of those statements. It doesn't matter what they say. It matters what the pads say, what the grind says. I just want to be the best from Day 1."

The Browns finished 31st defensively in 2016, 30th in points allowed and 29th in sacks per pass play.

Garrett, 6-foot-4, 272 pounds, had 32.5 sacks and 48.5 tackles for loss in three years at Texas A&M.

"Myles is a tremendous teammate," Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said in a statement. "A great example of his perseverance and willingness to compete was after he was injured in our Arkansas game. He could have shut it down the rest of the season, but he worked hard to get back on the field. Even though he wasn't 100 percent, he gave everything he had the remainder of the season including the bowl game."

Reports as late as Thursday afternoon said the Browns were torn between picking quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and Garrett with the first pick. Garrett wasn't worried because head coach Hue Jackson told him he would be the first pick a couple weeks ago.

"I believed him," Garrett said. "I don't have any reason to think that he would do me wrong. I just believed in what he was saying.

"He said I was his guy after we had dinner and that he wasn't going to guarantee anything, but he said, 'If you do the right things, you have a great chance of being a Brown.' That's what I've been looking forward to, and I'm ready to go."

Peppers played multiple positions at Michigan. He will be a safety with the Browns and return kicks.

"They're going to get more than 200 percent effort out of me," Peppers said on a conference call. "I'm going to show these guys what I can do."

Peppers tested for a diluted urine sample at the Combine. Browns EVP of Football Operations Sashi Brown said the Browns are satisfied with the background check they did on him.

The Browns did not take a quarterback. Brown said that will be addressed in the future.

"We wanted to make sure we got players we feel good about," Brown said. "We have a lot of holes to fill on this roster. For us, it's about making sure when we get the quarterback it's someone we all believe in and can get behind and move forward."

The quarterbacks on the roster currently are Cody Kessler, Brock Osweiler and Kevin Hogan.