Behind Myles Garrett's exploits on the field and good deeds off it was the determination that last year's ugly incident with Pittsburgh's Mason Rudolph would not shake his spirt. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
It’s impossible to argue with the choice of Washington quarterback Alex Smith as the runaway candidate for NFL comeback player-of-the-year honors.
Smith fought back from a gruesome injury to his right leg in 2018 that nearly resulted in amputation. Seventeen surgeries later, he returned at the age of 36 to not only play again, but lead his team into playoff contention with three wins in his four starts.
A case also could be made for Ben Roethlisberger.
The Pittsburgh quarterback had a season-ending elbow injury in Week 2 in 2019. After rehabbing from surgery to reattach three torn flexor tendons in his right (throwing) elbow, Roethlisberger, seemingly stronger than ever at 38 years old, has led the Steelers to the top of the AFC standings with an 11-1 record.
Those comebacks from serious injuries were arduous and grueling, testaments to hard work and faith.
It is a different kind of comeback experienced by Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.
He’s had to rehabilitate an otherwise sterling reputation and career tarnished by one ugly act out of character – slamming Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph on his unprotected head with his own helmet.
Roughly a year after Garrett began serving a six-game NFL suspension for his football crime of passion, he was named the Browns nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year.
Prestigious honor
The Payton Man of the Year award recognizes players for their elite performance on the field and their dedication to their community. It has grown into one of the league’s most prestigious honors.
“This has nothing to do with what happened last year,” Garrett said on Thursday.
True. But the nomination illustrates how far Garrett has come in reversing the hard feelings from his action and subsequent claims that he heard Rudolph use a racial slur during their physical altercation with five seconds left in that game in Cleveland on Nov. 19, 2019.
Rudolph and the Steelers have consistently denied Garrett’s claims. The NFL said they found “no such evidence” supporting Garrett.
At the time, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was emphatic in stating there was no racial slur and he doubled down when Garrett repeated the claim in an interview with ESPN months later. Yet when Garrett met the Steelers for the first time since the incident this year, he and Tomlin were seen joking and shaking hands prior to the game.
By the time of that meeting on Oct. 18, Garrett had established himself as a contender for the league’s defensive player-of-the-year award – the highest honor, less than league MVP, for a defensive player. Currently, he is tied for third with 10.5 sacks and tied for second with four forced fumbles. In six of the Browns’ nine wins, Garrett has made a play that changed a tight game in his team’s favor.
Just as importantly, Garrett’s season has been marked by expanded community involvement as Garrett made a conscientious effort to be a vocal and involved leader – on and off the field.
Shortly after the 2019 season ended, Garrett made his first trip to Tanzania as player captain of NFL Waterboys, the organization that seeks to bring clean water to communities in East Africa.
When he returned, Garrett immediately became active in the social justice movement spawned by the deaths of several African-Americans by law enforcement officers in the line of duty.
He became a vocal leader on the Browns’ 11-player social justice committee. He reached out to victims of police brutality and their families. He covered funeral costs for David McAtee, the owner of a barbecue business shot and killed by police officers in Louisville, KY, in June.
He also teamed up with Cleveland Hope Exchange and local businesses to provide more than 24,000 pounds of food and additional resources to those in need as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic this past spring.
“He has a great heart,” said quarterback Baker Mayfield, “and I think that has been something that if people questioned it because of one action last year then shame on them because you can learn from mistakes, as I personally know very well.
“Myles is a great guy. He has been doing things for a lot of people around the world for a while. That just shows his character and his heart. He is obviously a great representation of this franchise.”
And to think that Garrett seriously pondered retirement following the Rudolph incident. Clearly, he was a conflicted man, a quiet and reflective introvert cast in a football role that required nastiness on the field.
A good path
Garrett said he leaned on family and his “small circle” when considering how to proceed after the traumatic incident with Rudolph and the immense, negative fallout.
“Just talking to them and asking questions on how to move on, how to do better and how to come back and just telling me there was nothing wrong with the man I was before and just have to continue to be that,” Garrett said.
“Do not let that shake your faith or the plan that God has for you. I was set on a good path, starting early on with my parents and have kept that going with me as a person. I have been blessed with great coaches and great teammates who have kind of shared those ideals and been willing to put up with me and sometimes a little bit of my silence.”
Mayfield said Garrett “is obviously very quiet … but he has stepped up in so many ways vocally this year.”
“I have been trying to speak up more and be better, and take on that leadership role on and off the field,” Garrett said.
“I have just heard it enough where it was like I have to make a change. I heard it ever since high school and college. ‘You have to be more of a vocal leader.’ I have always been more of ‘I let my play speak for itself.’ I could not really understand what more they needed out of me.
“That excitement or that vocality, if you will, I did not really understand how important it was until I was around Kirko [former Browns teammate Christian Kirksey] and Demario [Davis, another former teammate], the leaders like that who really got guys going, willing to go out there and lay it all on the line. I am never going to be that good at leading and speaking as they are because it is just some are really born with it or some it just comes naturally. I have just been willing to say what I have to say at any time and willing to lead my guys through thick and thin.”
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said that in his initial conversations with Garrett, they did not discuss a gameplan for restoring his image after the incident last year.
“It was more we needed to get to know each other, and he needed to understand what I was about and I needed to understand what he was about,” Stefanski said. “I understand what he went through last offseason. I get all of that. But for me, it was really moving forward and how he could be a great teammate. He has made sure he has done that every step along the way.”
It’s how you live your life
Each of the 32 Man of the Year nominees will receive a $40,000 donation in their name to the charity of their choice. The ultimate winner, announced at the NFL Honors program at Super Bowl week, receives a $250,000 donation.
Garrett indicated that one reason he decided to keep playing after the Rudolph incident was to further his community involvement.
“It was never going to deter me, shake my spirit or take me off of the path that I have been on,” he said. “I always wanted to do these kinds of things, and nothing is going to change that.
“You have a lot of people who have done great things for their communities, for their teams and for their hometowns that do not get the recognition, but it is not about that. It is not about being honored or recognized and praised for what you are doing. It is just about doing it. You do not have to have your name called. You do not have to have your name on a banner or hung up or anything. It is just how you live your life.
“That is it. It is the love and the actual kindness that you have in your heart that you can’t really show. You will never be able to explain to people that this is not for show and that you are not trying to put this out so you can get credit. This is not a homework assignment. This is not a test. You are not trying to show that ‘I am holier than thou.’ You are doing it because it comes back to this is who I am, this is who I was raised to be and this is the kind of world that I envision for others. I am just trying to do that.”