Getty Myles Garrett #95 of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski spoke candidly about top Browns player Myles Garrett in a new interview with the Barstool Sports podcast “Pardon My Take.”
Kevin Stefanski in Awe of Myles Garrett, Promises He Won’t Hit Anyone With His Helmet Again
Over the course of the interview, “Pardon My Take” hosts Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter asked head coach Stefanski to weigh in on some of the Browns’ star players. When it comes to defensive end Myles Garrett, Stefanski said that he is in awe of Garrett’s athleticism.
“With Myles, it’s very strange to think about he’s from the same species as us. Physically, how he plays, what he looks like, the speed at which he goes, the way he bends — he might be an alien,” said Stefanski.
He was also asked if he has thoroughly addressed the incident from the 2019 Thursday Night Football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers where Garrett took off quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet and swung it at him in anger during an on-field altercation after a hard tackle. Stefanski was not the head coach at the time, he was still with the Minnesota Vikings at the time.
Stefanski said that Garrett has absolutely learned his lesson from that incident and that he promises Garrett will not do something like that again.
“I will say this about Myles, he’s a very, very smart person. He’s very conscientious. I know he learned from that … he’s one of the more interesting people I’ve ever been around, truly. And he’s really good at football,” said Stefanski, adding, “He won’t [do something like that again]. I promise. I don’t think I needed to tell him that.”
Myles Garrett Almost Quit Football Over The Incident with Mason Rudolph
In a 2020 interview with Cleveland.com, Garrett told Mary Kay Cabot that he almost quit football over that incident, but he ultimately didn’t want that one moment to define him.
“I know that in my heart — and the people who have raised me [know] — that’s never who I’ve been,” said Garrett, adding, “I’ve been raised with too many values, too many great role models and peers who have showed me the way to have just lost my way with one incident and it won’t define me.”
He also told ESPN in a later interview after the incident that he heard Rudolph call him “a stupid N-word,” which is what led to the brawl. He didn’t initially want to reveal that because it wasn’t “a justitification for [his] actions,” but he knows what he heard.
“It’s definitely not entirely his fault; it’s definitely both parties doing something that we shouldn’t have been doing,” said Garrett. But he later added that he just wanted to move on, telling ESPN, “I don’t want to make it a racial thing, honestly. It’s over with for me. And I’m pretty sure it’s over with for Mason. So we just wanna move past and keep on playing football.”
Rudolph vehemently denied Garrett’s version of events, telling ESPN, “I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe he would go that route after the fact.”
The Steelers also released a statement that read in part, “Mason vehemently denies the report of being accused of using a racial slur during the incident.”