One of the reasons that the NFL did away with the formal Pro Bowl game, aside from the fact that it increasingly failed to represent a real game of American football, was due to the potential risk of injury for players. Beginning with the 2022 season, they turned the event into a series of athletic activities, which still come with their own risk of injury.
That’s how Cleveland Browns Pro Bowl pass rusher Myles Garrett hurt his toe a few months back. Indeed, he said that injury is still bothering him, yet the injuries he sustained from his car crash during the season have since healed. He told reporters earlier this week that he’s now “retired” from the ‘Pro Bowl Games’.
Garrett was in attendance for phase one of the Browns’ voluntary offseason program, and also volunteered this information to the media, though one wonders how his coaches feel about him talking about his toe bothering him.
Specifically he called it a “nagging” injury that he feels most acutely when planting his foot or cutting—obvious yet equally concerning triggers. “It’s just frustrating”, he admitted, though he had no long-term worries. “By the time the season rolls around”, he said, “I don’t think it will be an issue”.
One would imagine that he has been examined by the Browns’ medical personnel by now and would have weighed in on that. After all, it’s a pretty important thing if their star defender has an issue planning his foot.
Garrett played through most of the 2022 season already dealing with a nagging injury stemming from the aforementioned car crash, which occurred in late September. He missed one game, but still managed to put up 16 sacks for the second time in as many years, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro (second-team) honors.
Outside of the catastrophic conclusion to his 2019 season, which ended in him serving an indefinite suspension for braining Mason Rudolph on primetime television, Garrett has been a Pro Bowler and All-Pro every year since 2018. That’s every season of his career in which he’s missed fewer than five games—not bad.
In terms of on the field, he has had good health luck for the past couple of years. Indeed, he has really only dealt with one football injury, back during his rookie season, and that stemmed from before the season began. The only other non-suspension time he missed was in 2020 due to COVID-19, so he’s been very healthy on the field.
