DE Myles Garrett (12.13.24)

How are you feeling? I think we heard you in the locker room, Hard Knocks showed you dealing with something. How are you feeling?

“Oh, man, I was just doing that for the cameras. A bug went through the family, so we’re dealing with that. But I’m feeling better, almost full healed.”

 

Speaking of camera time, there’s obviously that picture that’s floating around of you on the iPad. Do you think that was just way overblown out of proportion on Hard Knocks? 

“Me on the iPad texting?”

 

Yes, during linemen meetings.

“I didn’t know I couldn’t text at work. Out of all the things that we do and what we go through and the notes that we take, taking a little bit of time to text back with the family or whatever it is, is probably what I’m going to continue to do. So as long as my play doesn’t drop or anything dramatic doesn’t happen with myself, I’m going to continue to do what works for me.”

 

Is it any more meaningful if you got number 100 against a guy like Patrick (Mahomes)? 

“I mean, it would have been fun to get it last week and I had a chance to. But I think it’s special regardless of who it’s against. He’s definitely one of the very best that we’ve ever seen, especially at that position. So, I mean, it’d be nice to get that one and hopefully I can take the ball from him on the play and don’t have to get it from him after. So, just semantics.”

 

How difficult is he and elusive is he the way he extends play. And for an edge rusher, just how, you know, how difficult of a matchup is he specifically? 

“He’s always more elusive than you give him credit for, and he has very good balance. He doesn’t go down easily, even when he does, his eyes are always looking downfield. He’s always looking to make that next play. And that’s really the tough part about it. He’s always looking down the field. He’s unblockable, really, when the rush is coming and he’s not deterred too much about pressure from the middle, from the edges. So just have to continue to rush him and bat balls down. I think that’s the only thing that really gets to him is when the balls get batted down early and often. So, I think that’s where we can really start to shake him.”

 

When we talked about you getting to 100 a couple weeks ago, you said that it took you too long, I think is what you said. Do you really believe that? You’re up to top five all-time.

“Absolutely. I mean COVID, getting suspended in 2019, getting hurt in 2017, I think all those things led to me being a little bit slow on getting there. There were some games I wish I had back, and some plays I wish I had back along the way, but I feel like I have a lot of time to speed up the numbers that I have now, the rate that I’m at now. Just look at it as a challenge. There are some guys ahead of me and I want to pass up everybody at the end of it.”

 

You spoke about wanting to be in Cleveland the rest of your career, Jimmy (Haslam) spoke earlier this week about believing that he had the right guys in place with Andrew (Berry) and Kevin (Stefanski). What give you the confidence that this organization can build the winning team you want to be a part of over the next year? 

“We got those guys right there leading the charge organizationally. Them being here, wanting to pick up the right pieces and play will give me confidence. As long has that’s how it’s looking how it is, I want to be here, and I’ll be happy to play for Cleveland. We all got to be heading in the right direction, and we all got to be on the same page. And until then, I’ll be here playing for the team that drafted me.”

 

What Jimmy said about the perplexities of the season, do you think that throughout the season you guys have all been on the same page regardless? 

“Well, as far as teamwise, no, I don’t think we’ve all been on the same page. So that has probably been a majority of the dysfunction that we’ve seen on the field. Organizationally, I mean the goals have aligned all season, just the play and execution has not.”

 

This was a year that you guys were supposed to be in contention. You only get one career and you’re in the prime of your career and this was supposed to be the prime contention for this franchise. Just how disappointing has the, (Jimmy) Haslam used the term perplexing to describe this season. Just I guess how perplexing, how disappointing has this been? 

“I mean it’s been frustrating but it’s something that we acknowledged at the beginning of the season. It wasn’t going to be like last season, especially defensively. Guys have seen what we’re good at, they’ve had a whole year to study and really break down what we do best. So, we have to take it up another level and we didn’t. So, I don’t think it’s as perplexing as we make it, it’s just when you look from the outside in and you just see the result, it’s hard to understand how we got there. But when you break down the film, when you look at how often we beat ourselves, put ourselves in bad position, that’s what bad teams do.”

 

When you talk about getting the “why” to win when playoffs are out of the question, beating the two-time defending champs who are 12-1, does that rank pretty high on that list of reasons to play really hard? 

“Absolutely. The team that everyone expects to go back to the Super Bowl, got a hell of a cast, two of the very best players in the league, if not three. So, you want to leave this year off with at least a good note, good taste in our mouths by four-straight wins and doing what we need to.”

 

How have you seen some of the young guys kind of embrace that sentiment of playing for the name on their back, the city, the name on the front of their jersey and finding their why? Maybe some guys that haven’t had that adversity yet. 

“Just try to break it down to them as much and often as possible. This is your resume. Everyone’s going to be looking at this family, to this team, to everyone across the NFL. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be here for your entire career, but teams will look at this film and they’ll use this to define you for the rest of your time in the league. So never take a snap for granted, never take a second for granted. So go out there, train as hard as you can and make those big plays. You want to be memorable to the guys that you play with, your peers and also the coaching organizations who are willing to take a chance on you.”

 

What can you learn from playing a team like the Chiefs? Like they haven’t had their best year statistically, but they have one loss, and they keep finding ways to win. 

“Exactly, they find a way to win. One score games. I think they took the NFL record for because at the end of the day, they don’t beat themselves especially down the stretch and they have a sense of camaraderie and chemistry that’s really unmatched right now, probably besides Detroit. So, we’ll get to match up with one of those two teams and we have to take note.”

 

What do you think you’re going to see with the uncertainty that they have heading into a game at left tackle? 

“What do I think?”

 

Do you think this could get easier for me?

“I think that every week.”

 

It doesn’t change the fact that they could have their whatever, backup or whatever string tackle in there?

“No, it doesn’t change whether it’s right side, left side, inside. I’m happy with the matchup anywhere I go.”

 

When you watch Mahomes, it seems like the worst thing a team can do, lead or tie or whatever, is give him the ball with less than two minutes to play. Why is he just so elite in the final two minutes of games? 

“Always finds a way to stay on his feet, avoiding the rush and keeping his eyes downfield. I mean if you let those guys get enough time, they’re going to get open regardless of who’s back there. So, you have to put some pressure on him. You have to have him worry more about you rushing up front than getting his eyes down field because once he extends the play three, four, five seconds, someone’s going to be there, he’s going to find him. So, you have to be able to take him off from those guys down there.”

 

Myles, I know it’s different sides of the ball, but you and Patrick are obviously linked through that 2017 draft and he’s had the team success but how would you compare the success you’ve had with the success he’s had looking all the way back to that draft? 

“I wouldn’t. Comparison is the thief of joy. So, I don’t compare myself to Patrick, not in team success or position wise. I mean at the end of the day he’s doing well on his team and I want to continue to do well on my team. This year is not the one for us, currently. But there’s no reason we can’t leave off on a great note going 4-0 in these last games.”

 

That playoff game in 2020, in the moment, felt like Browns-Chiefs could become a thing and then you guys opened up in Kansas City the following year. With that fork in the road, are you surprised that they went on to win Super Bowls? And you guys have kind of really struggled to find that consistent winning level. Do you feel like that game was like a little bit of a fork in the road there because you were so close to the AFC Championship game? 

“I mean there’s just a lot of consistency all along the board with their team. Especially the quarterback position. We moved on from our quarterback at that time and we’ve also done that in different positions on offense and defense. While them as a team their standard hasn’t changed, their coach hasn’t changed and their roster really hasn’t changed, other than the wide receiver room. So, I think that’s been one thing that set us apart. I think the standard has to continue to grow for us as a team. This year we stayed the same, a lot of guys didn’t rise to the level of expectations that we have for ourselves.”