CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett avoided taking part in the trend of putting a visor into his helmet during the first two years of his NFL career, but the 2018 Pro Bowl lineman has finally embraced the idea.
Garrett sported a visor for the first time during Saturday’s Orange and Brown Scrimmage at FirstEnergy Stadium, and in his typical fashion of embracing individuality, he had a Dragon Ball Z-inspired look.
“I got a couple nice looks about it,” Garrett said. “People were congratulating me for finally moving to the visor game. I liked it. It didn’t really bother my game, and it felt like I was in a different realm inside of it. It was dark, but it wasn’t too dark.
“I felt a little more focused, and I might stick with it. We’ll see.”
With the Z Warriors on his side, Garrett proved adept at disrupting the flow of the Browns’ offense during the scrimmage.
There were times when it looked like Garrett got such a good jump off the snap of the ball that he could have taken a handoff from first-team quarterback Baker Mayfield. And Garrett reminded Mayfield of that fact with some playful banter.
“I could’ve ripped it away and been in the end zone, but that’s just part of playing the game inside the game,” Garrett said. “It’s about rushing right now, making your teammates better and finishing while avoiding the quarterback.”
During the 2019 season, Garrett is looking to add to what already is an impressive resume.
Fully healthy coming into the 2018 season, Garrett emerged as a leader for the Browns’ defense and registered 44 total tackles, including 35 solo stops, while playing in all 16 games for the team who selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Of those 44 tackles, 13.5 were sacks on opposing quarterbacks for 75.5 lost yards and Garrett finished the year with the fourth-most sacks in a single season in franchise history.
With 20.5 career sacks, Garrett registered the most by a Brown in his first 27 games, as well as the most by a defender in his first two professional seasons. This past year, Garrett ranked sixth in the NFL with the 13.5 sacks and fourth in the AFC with four forced fumbles.
“That’s how it’s supposed to be,” Garrett said of spending a lot of time in the backfield during drills in training camp. “Being healthy and just being the guy that I am, just working hard, my guys are getting me free where I can get there as long as I want to get there.”
