DE Myles Garrett (7.26.24)
How does the hamstring feel?
“Feels good to me.”
Just kind of ramping up?
“It’s a ramp up here that we’re doing. Making sure, you know, everything’s feeling right and just checking all the lights in the car and making sure the engine’s running well and when we’re finally there, ready to go.”
Was that a little something that happened the last day of minicamp? Did that kind of linger for you a little bit, but now you’re fine or how did that happen?
“I wouldn’t say linger for too much. I think it was just a matter of being overly cautious and just not want to play with fire so, making sure that slowly bounce back so we don’t have any setbacks here right before the season.”
Maybe that’s part of it, Myles, but how do you approach the long drive to training camp different now at this stage of your career than you did earlier?
“How do I approach it? Well, we’re not here from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. anymore, so that’s nice. I’m also not at the hotel, I’m not young. I don’t know, more of a leadership role, taking a mentorship role when I’m with the guys, whether it’s offense or defense, just giving them the keys and tips that I see, try to further their games and try to make the game slow down for them. I want everyone to be able to take something from this camp, get better each day, 1% or 0.1%, whatever it is. I want those guys to keep on building time to continue that culture, getting better every day, working on it.”
How much of being able to kind of stand behind the play and watch, how much does that give you a better perspective to when you are talking to an Alex Wright or whomever you may be kind of mentoring, you know, kind of having that perspective to see what they’re doing and that vantage point of what’s going on?
“I mean, even when I’m practicing with the guys, I’m playing with the guys, I’m always watching what they’re doing. I’m trying to see if I can either help, offer some advice, give them something I’ve been seeing that make their move improve or maybe shorten their steps, quicken their time to the quarterback or to the ball carrier, or trying to take what they’re using and put it in my arsenal. Maybe I like how they’re stepping out, using their hand. Whatever move they’re doing, maybe they learn something in the offseason. I’m always locked in to see what guys are doing on the field.”
Myles, when you look at the lineup of quarterbacks that you guys are going to be facing this year, how excited are you that you get to go against the Lamar’s (Jackson), the Jalen’s (Hurts) and the Patrick’s (Mahomes), the Tua’s (Tagovailoa)? The list goes on and on this year.
“I mean, it’s always exciting. At any given day, you can get lit up by a quarterback in this league. All these guys are here for a reason. So, most of those guys are, by most standards of measurement, some of the best in the league. So, it is an exciting time. It will be competitive, but we look forward to that challenge. We want them to give them their best because we know we’re going to work hard to get them out.”
Myles, coming off your Defensive Player of the Year, what is your process this offseason as far as dissecting your game and finding areas you can improve? We asked Kevin Stefanski earlier if he still sees things that you know amaze him from you and he said, “absolutely.” So just what did you do this offseason to kind of find an area or two you can still get better at?
“I watched a lot of tape, not only of myself, but of others and watching how they deal with circumstances or situations I get put in this double team, chip, outside chip, wide receiver, tight end, from the backfield, triple teams, whatever it is, looking at how they go through their process and beating those and trying to implement that into my game however I can. Watching those guys definitely helps take my game to the next level because we have so many talented guys at the position. So just trying to learn from my own mistakes, watching it, you know, day in and day out, making sure I minimize the mistakes that I made.”
Myles, given the opponent and the stage with the first game this year does it have any extra meaning to you?
“It’s Dallas, it’s home. I don’t plan on losing. That’s it.”
Myles is it crazy how quickly eight years has gone for you and then just looking at this like team there’s so many of you guys that have been together so long now. So, what’s it like coming in here now, maybe versus the earlier years of your career?
“I mean, in the early years of my career everything was just so brand new. Everything just seemed like I was part of someone else’s story, like it just didn’t feel real. And finally last like four or five years, I would say this kind of settled down and even more recently, feeling more comfortable in that leadership role, taking that platform and use it to empower my teammates, continue to encourage them and make them better, but also give them the courage to speak up and make them become leaders when the time calls for. It’s not just me. We need guys who will be leaders and also followers when the time comes. That’s all of us. So, I look at it as, you know, another opportunity to grow. Honestly, West Virginia is beautiful, so I enjoy coming out here, but it’s fun. A lot of guys wouldn’t say that about training camp, but it’s where you make your standards, where culture is built. You want to make sure that you get the most out of times like this.
Who are some of those guys that you watch try to get through the double and triple team?
“Maxx (Crosby), Nick (Bosa), Micah (Parsons), Trey (Hendrickson), T.J. (Watt). Am I missing anybody? That’s about it.”
Is it possible and if so, how for your role to expand in year two of Jim’s (Schwartz) system?
“My role is to make plays. I don’t think you can get bigger than that.”
Myles, when you talk about the leadership, we see you guys out there walking through some of the techniques with the guys. Do you see them now gravitating towards you more now that you are taking on that role and are more open to it?
“Yeah. I felt like in the past, sometimes guys who were closer to me in age or I wasn’t that much older than would kind of view it more as like competition, always trying to be conceited or looking down on them when I just want to see my guys go out there and win. Now it feels like I’m getting the nickname ‘Unc’ and OG and crap. It feels more like the guys are looking at me and say, ‘Yo, bro, just give me something. How can I improve here? What’s your thought process here? How are your steps?’ I’ll give my answer wholeheartedly. “This is what you’re doing, this is what I see, this is how you can improve, change your game. They’ve been receptive, and I’m continuing to give advice as I get questions and try to improve each day in my leadership role. As they teach me things, I continue to be a better follower as well.”
Myles, you always have a bullseye on your back every week… because everyone goes out to try to stop you. Do you feel like the fact that you are now NFL Defensive Player of the Year magnifies that even more? Or would it be possible for a team to do more than they normally do?
“Well, there’s always more. So I don’t want to say too much and then get jumped the first game of the year. I look forward to it, look forward to the challenge, whatever they throw at me. It gets me excited. The odds that get stacked against me or against us, and it’s like, how are you going to find another way to be unstoppable? How are you going to find another way to change or disrupt your game? How are you going to put yourself in a position to win, put your teammates in position to win? How can you allow them to take over if you’re going to take two or three? Those are kind of the thought process I have; I’m going to win two, but it’s going to take too much time for me to get there, whether it’s get my hands up or maybe running a game so that my guy can get free, because they’re spending so much attention on me, seeing how someone can make the play, not just me. It’s a defense full of stars so I want all these guys to get their opportunity to shine.”
We know Dalvin [Thomlinson] is going to miss some time, he had the procedure done today. How important has it been to have him on the interior with you guys, and how important is it that you guys have amassed this depth along the D line that you’ve had the last couple of years?
“We have gathered a lot of really solid, really great players on the D line. It’s nice to have that amount of depth in our position, in our room, but he’ll definitely be missed. He’s a leader out there, he’s great at making calls, he’s smart and a hell of a teammate. He’s willing to make things work, whether it’s a pick game, a calling game to get guys free. If he doesn’t like his matchup, whether it’s a slide or the double team’s coming his way, he sees all that in the game, like I said, slow it down for him. He’s going to make those proper calls, whether I’m on the side, Ogbo (Okoronkwo), Z (Za’Darius Smith) or whoever, to get us free and that goes for the opposite DT as well. He’ll be missed but I know he’s going to use that time to get in even better shape and study the game and be around with us.”
As a cornerstone of an organization that’s looking to contend and try and get to the mountaintop. What’s your view of the road that lies ahead as far as the competition in this conference? You know, so many good teams, obviously, the dominance of Kansas City, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Miami. There just seems to be so many roadblocks in front of you. What’s your take on trying to not only stay on their level, but get past that?
“It’s a slaughterhouse over in the AFC. Guys who come out of it are usually the top dog in the NFL. So we look forward to it, especially in our division. We know that it’s going to be gritty, grimy, it’s going to be tough every AFC North game. We are excited every time we get to share the field with those guys, compete against those guys. Those kinds of matchups don’t lie in the back of my mind, we look forward to those every single time. Whether it’s the (Miami) Dolphins, (Kansas City) Chiefs, (Buffalo) Bills, (Baltimore) Ravens, all of them. We look forward to those guys and we look forward to making a statement every time we step on the field with great teams like that.”
You guys added Quinton Jefferson this offseason, great pass rusher in the interior, how important is that, you know, getting that push up the middle to help free you up on the edge?
“It’s a matter of not being able to double team everybody. At the end of the year, it was like they were trying to double team the edge and then took the inside guys and they were having some success. I feel like guys really improve their game. Q (Quinton Jefferson) has joined us, Mike (Hall) has joined us, guys who can win one on ones. They’re going to take that challenge and run with it. I look forward to seeing what he can do on the inside when the time comes, but you have to have that push in the middle to avoid the QB stepping away from a strip sack or a big hit, a big play to be made. With them being able to provide pressure and keep that quarterback from stepping up from like six, five, four yards, that’d be perfect. That’s when rushers start working together and you start seeing six sack games, seven, eight, nine sack games. So we look forward to putting up numbers like that.”
Myles, this is year three for Deshaun (Watson), as his teammate and as a co-leader, have you seen any change in him? Renewed focus, determination, anything like that?
“He’s always been determined, but I think really his spirit has really grown as far as being more excited to be in the building, being happy, being around. I think he was sometimes just a little down with the situation with his shoulder, just wanting to be out there with the guys. Wanting to be in a position where he can support and lead. It’s hard to lead from the side. It’s hard to lead, you know, when you’re not able to play and lead by example. Some of those things would just really have him down but I think as his health continued to improve, his spirit started to grow again. He started to really get back into his groove and feel like that player and that leader again. It’s been nice to see him grow back into himself.”
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