Myles Garrett's Got His Eye On Post-season Prizes

Not everyone was excited about the start of training camp for the Cleveland Browns. 

Imagine being the guys who line up across from Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett every day in practice.

They couldn’t have been looking forward to being roughed up by Garrett, whose combination of size (6-foot-4, 262 pounds), quickness and explosiveness is virtually unmatched in the NFL.

Garrett lives in the offensive backfield, as his 20.5 sacks in his first two seasons suggest. But the former No. 1 overall pick says he’s just getting started.

“I have a lot more [I can do],” he says. “Switching sides, dropping back, getting to the passer. I just think there is more to what I can do.”

Garrett is a physical freak, a chiseled block of granite that can move at stunning speed, with a 41-inch vertical leap capable of batting down quick passes coming from opposing quarterbacks.

But beneath that burly exterior is a softie. He adopted a black German Shepherd puppy he’s named Gohan, and has taken the dog on hikes in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and for puppy play dates with Browns fans at a Kirtland dog park.

Injuries limited Garrett to 11 games as a rookie in 2017, when the Browns were winless, but he still led the team with seven sacks. He played in all 16 games last season and nearly doubled that with 13.5 sacks. His total tackles also shot up from 19 to 35.

Now, with Olivier Vernon coming over from the New York Giants in a trade, Garrett can switch sides on the defensive front and the Browns can deploy him in different ways. 

“[We can be] pretty dangerous,” he says. “We could get a couple sacks between us. Maybe three or four a night.”

The depth on the Browns’ front four, combined with an improved group of linebackers and defensive backs, could help Garrett’s numbers spike again. If that happens, he could dominate and perhaps be a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year.

“The best defensive player in the league — that is the goal,” Garrett says. “That is the only way to stamp your name in the history books. If I don’t win that, it is about being a team player and taking my team to the Super Bowl.”

For that to happen, the Browns’ entire defense, which ranked in the bottom half of the league in most defensive categories in 2018, must improve around Garrett.

“Defense wins championships,” he says. “We have seen that many times throughout the years and it is never going to change. If they can’t score the ball and we can, then we are going to win.”