Myles Garrett is the best defensive player in the league, in general, or this year, if you ask Pro Football Focus. If you ask the man himself, he will give you the same answer. While he generally backs up his opinion on the field and is undeniably an elite talent, his bullhorn has only grown louder over the years.
Even Browns beat writers are pointing it out, like Zac Jackson of The Athletic. He wrote that Garrett deserves the Defensive Player of the Year award again. But he also deserved the Look At Me award—which, of course, he made up. But which Garret very much earned.
“Whatever motivations — almost certainly multiple — Garrett had for choosing last Friday to hint that he might try to force a trade from the largely hopeless Browns in the offseason, none of them were exactly team-driven or team-friendly”, Jackson argued.
“The trade deadline was almost two months ago, and this Browns season was sunk a month before that”, he continued. “Garrett is still playing with maximum effort and still dictating opponent game plans, but he could have waited until the end of the season to go public with his plans to bully the franchise and make Cleveland admit that its future is bleak”.
Jackson is alluding to a report indicating that Myles Garrett is growing discontent with the Browns. Allegedly, he wants the organization to show him a concrete plan for success this offseason, and if he is not satisfied, he may want out.
Of course, nobody can blame a player for not wanting to be on the Browns, one of the league’s perennial losers. Garrett probably thought the organization turned the corner last season, but it wound up right back where they started.
While he continues to produce, potentially leading the NFL in sacks for a three-win team, Myles Garrett wants to win games. It is likely in part because of the team’s lack of success that he feels so invested in individual achievement. He recently became the youngest player in NFL history to reach 100 sacks. But, of course, it came in a blowout loss in a lost season.
Following a surprising Browns win over the Steelers earlier this year, Garrett made his move. Coming off a three-sack, forced-fumble performance, he declared himself the best defender in the NFL. He clearly wanted to make a statement when playing against the Steelers and T.J. Watt.
Of course, a few weeks later, Garrett did very little in Pittsburgh, whom the Steelers officially eliminated, and suddenly, he struck a different, deferent tone. It’s always easier to open your mouth at your highest. But it sounds less convincing when you don’t show the same confidence at a low moment.
