Myles Garrett


Myles Lorenz Garrett is an American football defensive end for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He played college football at Texas A&M and was drafted by the Browns first overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Garrett was the highest-rated defensive player ever recruited by Texas A&M, where he became a two-time All-American while playing for the Aggies, racking up numerous other awards for his stellar defensive play. Upon joining the Browns, his rookie season was limited due to injuries, but Garrett emerged after the latter half of that year and has become one of the premier edge rushers in the NFL. In 2019, Garrett was suspended indefinitely for a fight occurring in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers before being reinstated in early 2020.

High school career

Garrett attended Martin High School in Arlington, Texas, where he was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, he had 19.5 sacks as a senior. Garrett was rated as a five-star recruit by the Rivals.com recruiting network and was ranked as the second best overall player in his class. He committed to play college football at Texas A&M University in October 2013. In track & field, he was a state qualifier in the throwing events, with top-throws of 16.01 meters in the shot put and 50.84 meters in the discus throw.

College career

Freshman year

Garrett came to Texas A&M as the #2 overall prospect in the nation, and the highest-rated defensive player the Aggies had ever signed. As a true freshman in 2014, Garrett broke Texas A&M's freshman sack record of 5.5 in only six games. In only nine games, he broke Jadeveon Clowney's SEC freshman sack record of eight. Garrett finished the season with 11.5 sacks, 53 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hurries, and a blocked kick. He was a consensus Freshman All-American and Freshman All-SEC selection. After the conclusion of the season, Garrett announced that he would undergo surgery to repair torn ligaments in his hand, an injury that occurred in the sixth game of the season against Mississippi State.

Sophomore year

Garrett followed up his stellar freshman campaign by leading the SEC with 12 sacks as a sophomore. He recorded 57 total tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, seven quarterback hurries, five forced fumbles, and a blocked punt. In addition, Garrett recorded his first interception off of his own-tipped ball in the game against Ole Miss. The season earned Garrett a first-team All-American selection by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and the Football Writers Association of America. Garrett was also the Bill Willis Award winner as the top defensive lineman.

Junior year

Garrett's junior year found him limited by injuries. He suffered a high-ankle sprain to his left leg in the fourth game of the season against Arkansas, and did not appear in the games against South Carolina and New Mexico State. Garrett also found his availability limited to third downs in some other games while he recovered from the injury. For the season, Garrett recorded 8.5 sacks, 32 total tackles, 15.0 tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, and a pass breakup. The season resulted in Garrett earning a Unanimous Consensus All-American designation by being voted to the first-team by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Football Writers Association of America, the American Football Coaches Association, The Sporting News, the Associated Press, Fox Sports, Pro Football Focus, and SB Nation.
On December 31, 2016, Garrett officially declared his intentions to enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

College statistics

Professional career

On December 31, 2016, Garrett announced his decision to forgo his remaining eligibility and enter the 2017 NFL Draft. He was projected to be a top ten selection and was ranked No. 1 on ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s big board. Garrett attended the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and completed the majority of combine drills, but opted to skip the three-cone drill and short shuttle. Garrett solidified his position as a top ten pick with an impressive combine performance. His 41” vertical jump was the top performance of all defensive linemen and he also finished with the second best performance in the bench press and broad jump. Garrett also had the third fastest 40-yard dash of all defensive linemen at the combine, which highly impressed scouts due to his size. On March 30, 2017, Garrett attended Texas A&M's Pro Day and chose to perform the 40-yard dash, 20-yard dash, 10-yard dash, and broad jump.
Garrett attended pre-draft visits with the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, and Chicago Bears. At the conclusion of pre-draft process, Garrett was projected by NFL draft analyst and scouts to be the first overall player selected. He was ranked the top overall prospect and defensive end by Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Pro Football Focus, and DraftScout.com. Garrett was also ranked the top edge rusher in the draft by NFL analyst Mike Mayock.

2017

The Cleveland Browns selected Garrett with the first overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. Garrett became the highest draft pick from Texas A&M in the history of the NFL draft.
On May 19, 2017, the Cleveland Browns signed Garrett to a fully guaranteed four-year, $30.41 million contract that features a $20.25 million signing bonus, offset language options, and a team option for a fifth year.
Garrett entered training camp slated as a starting defensive end. Head coach Hue Jackson named Garrett and Emmanuel Ogbah the starting defensive ends to begin the regular season. They started the season alongside defensive tackles Trevon Coley and Jamie Meder.
On September 7, 2017, Garrett suffered a high ankle sprain during practice, causing him to miss the start of the season. After missing the first four games, Garrett finally played his first regular season game on October 8, 2017, and sacked Josh McCown twice. The Browns lost to the Jets by a score of 17–14. Despite having 4 sacks in his first 3 games, Garrett's injury woes continued as he sustained a concussion during Week 8 against the Tennessee Titans. Because he was on concussion protocol, he could not travel to London for the next game.
Overall, Garrett recorded 28 combined tackles, seven sacks, one pass defensed, and one fumble recovery during his rookie season. Due to injury he only played 11 of 16 games, but still finished first on the team in sacks.

2018

Garrett was named a defensive captain for the 2018 season.
In week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Garrett sacked Ben Roethlisberger twice and forced two fumbles, both of which were recovered by the Browns, during the 21–21 tie game.
In week 3 against the New York Jets, Garrett sacked rookie quarterback Sam Darnold twice during the 21–17 win. This was Garrett's first win in the NFL.
In week 7 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Garrett sacked Jameis Winston twice during the 26–23 overtime loss.
In the 2018 season, Garrett started all 16 games and recorded 13.5 sacks, 44 combined tackles, 12 tackles-for-loss, 29 quarterback hits, three passes defensed, and three forced fumbles. His 13.5 sacks ranked sixth in the NFL that year. He was ranked 49th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2019.

2019

In Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans, Garrett sacked Marcus Mariota twice in the 13–43 loss. During Monday Night Football against the New York Jets in Week 2, Garrett finished with three sacks, but also committed two roughing the passer penalties as the Browns won 23–3. On September 28, Garrett was fined a combined $52,639 for three fouls, a face mask hit on Delanie Walker as well as the two roughing the passer fouls on Trevor Siemian.
In week 6 against the Seattle Seahawks, Garrett sacked Russell Wilson twice in the 32–28 loss.
During the Browns' November 14 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, with eight seconds left in the game, Garrett pulled Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph to the ground and held him there after the latter threw a screen pass to running back Trey Edmunds. While Garrett had him wrapped up on the ground, Rudolph tugged at Garrett's helmet. Upon arising to his feet, Garrett pulled on Rudolph's facemask, eventually removing his helmet as Steelers offensive linemen Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro tried to push Garrett away. Rudolph then charged at Garrett and Garrett swung Rudolph's helmet at Rudolph, striking him in the head with the underside of the helmet. A fight ensued that resulted in Garrett, Pouncey and Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi being ejected; Pouncey both punched and kicked Garrett after the strike, while Ogunjobi pushed a helmetless Rudolph to the ground as he stood watching the fight.
Garrett's actions were called into question by his own head coach and quarterback in interviews conducted immediately after the game. Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield called Garrett's action "inexcusable", while Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens expressed embarrassment. Garrett later apologized for his actions, which he described as "foolish" and "out of character," while at the same time thanking those players who "backed him up." The next day, the NFL suspended Garrett indefinitely; he missed the remainder of the 2019 regular season and postseason. He was also fined $45,623. Garrett's appeal failed on November 20; he claimed, without evidence, that Rudolph directed a racial slur at him. He needed to meet with officials from the office of Commissioner Roger Goodell in order to be reinstated for the 2020 season. Garrett's suspension was the second-longest suspension for on-field misconduct in NFL history, and the longest for a single in-game incident. The only player to be suspended for a longer period was Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who was suspended for the final 12 games of the 2019 season due to a history of violations of player safety rules.

2020

Garrett was reinstated from his suspension on February 12, 2020. On April 27, 2020, the Browns exercised the fifth-year option on Garrett's contract. He signed a five-year, $125 million contract extension with the team on July 15, 2020.

NFL statistics

Personal life

Garrett's half-brother, Sean Williams, was a standout basketball player for Boston College and was selected number 17 in the first round of the 2007 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets. He then played in the NBA from 2007 to 2012. Brea Garrett, his older sister, was a track and field athlete at Texas A&M. She won the 2014 NCAA title in the 20-pound weight throw, and is the first weight throw champion in Aggie history.
During the 2015 offseason, Garrett decided to stop using his social media account on Twitter, citing: "There's a lot of negativity on there I don’t need in my life. I felt like If I want to move forward as a person and as a football player, I don’t need other people's opinions and other things to stick with me or be in my mind when I have other things to keep doing." Garrett later resumed using Twitter regularly. Garrett also writes poetry and is working on a dinosaur book for children.
On April 30, 2017, two days after the 2017 NFL Draft, Garrett, along with fellow first rounders Jabrill Peppers and David Njoku, were at Progressive Field, and threw out a ceremonial first pitch.