For much of his career, Cleveland Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett has seemingly been more interested in individual accolades rather than team success, especially based on comments to the media.
That has never been more true than this year. Garrett made sure to tell a national audience in Week 12 on Thursday Night Football after a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers that he’s the best defensive player in the league, and that the Defensive Player of the Year award goes through him.
He followed that up with a comment Thursday to the media in the midst of a 3-13 season from the Browns, again calling himself the best defensive player in the NFL, and that anyone that questions it should check the tape.
But prior to that comment, Garrett made it clear he wants to mess up Baltimore’s playoff outlook by beating the Ravens Saturday afternoon, knocking them out of the AFC North title race and making them a road Wild Card team. He’d rather do that than add to his individual accolades with another sack title.
“I mean, I’d rather upset them and mess up their playoff hopes,” Garrett said, via a transcript from the Browns. “And if the sack title comes along with that, great. Definitely going to do what I can to be disruptive and take No. 8 [Lamar Jackson] out of the game as much as possible.
“If that comes along with it, outstanding. But at the end of the day, I want to win.”
Winning is not something Myles Garrett has done much of in Cleveland. He’s racked up a number of individual awards though, including the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, and became the first player in NFL history with at least 14 sacks in four consecutive seasons.
He was the youngest to 100 career sacks in NFL history, too. There’s no denying his greatness. The problem is, he’s always seemed more focused on individual accolades rather than team success. As long as Garrett is racking up numbers and strengthening his individual resume, all has seemed well for him.
But entering Week 18 in the midst of another disastrous season for the Browns, he tried to say the right things, stating he wants to win the game and isn’t worried about the sack title. The chances that the Browns beat the Ravens with Bailey Zappe starting at quarterback seem very slim.
Chances of Garrett winning the sack title seem high. He’s tied with Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson with 14.0 sacks entering Week 18, while Houston’s Danielle Hunter sits two sacks behind them with 12.0 on the season. Baltimore’s Kyle Van Noy and Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt round out the top five with 11.5 sacks, making it an AFC North-heavy race for the sacks title.
