Myles Garrett Talks 'Jurassic Park,' Browns Season, Life After Football, and Much More

We recently sat down with Cleveland Browns All-Pro EDGE rusher Myles Garrett to talk about 'Jurassic Park,' the upcoming season, Marvel movies, and more.

Myles Garrett
Getty

Image via Getty

Myles Garrett

Myles Garrett is one of the best players in the NFL. A destructive force off the EDGE for the Cleveland Browns, Garrett is a big reason why people think the Browns have such a bright future. But if you know anything about Garrett, you know he’s much more than a football player. He loves dinosaurs and anime and basically just being himself, which is refreshing to see.

And Garrett is really, really sure about one thing: once he’s done with football, he’s really done. “Once I’m done with football, I’m out,” Garrett told Complex Sports in an exclusive interview. That checks out. Some guys like to stick around the game, and some guys like to venture into other things. For Garrett, he’s not sure exactly what he wants to do, but he certainly has big plans for when that time comes. 

We talked to Garrett about his new partnership with Ladder, the upcoming Browns season, Jurassic Park, Marvel movies, and much more. Check out the full conversation below. 

[This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]

We have to talk about the box jump that went viral earlier in the offseason. What kind of message does that send to the league when you put stuff like that out there?

I’m trying to take it to a new level each time I step on the field. Then, off the field, I want to show people that I don’t really take days off. I get told by my teammates and coaches that I should take a little bit more time off, because whether I’m on vacation or flying abroad, I always have to have a trainer or somewhere to work out, somewhere where I can get my work done. I don’t ever want to have a feeling of doubt stepping on the field, looking at someone feeling like they outwork, they have better conditioning than me because there’s no way I can look myself in the mirror and be all right knowing that I didn’t give my best in the offseason or during the season.

What reactions did your teammates give you when that got posted on IG? Were your texts getting blown up?

A little bit. They were doing the basketball clubs a little bit more of it. They see it every day, those box jumps to that explosive stuff. At this point, they just shake their head. It’s like, “Damn, he’s done it again.”

Do guys challenge you? David Njoku is a big guy, does he ever try and challenge you in the gym with this stuff? 

I asked him about it. That’s not what he wants.


Let’s talk about the basketball clips a bit. I think you made a pretty strong case that you’re the best hooper in the NFL. What do you think?

I think if I’m going one-on-one that there isn’t a guy who can stop me. So I like to take on anybody who’s open to that challenge, but it’s always been a passion of mine. And, if I’m passionate about something, I’m going to give it my all, I’m going to work hard at it. And in the offseason, that’s a good amount of conditioning. I do running on the field, I like to play sports in general to keep my endurance up. But basketball, that was one of my first loves.


Who did you mold your game after growing up?

My dad loved Mike, so I love Mike. And I loved to watch LeBron and Tmac. I loved Kobe. Kobe we with the fro, that was my guy growing up. And then it transitioned to LeBron. And Mike was always there just because of my dad showed me clips and VHS tapes from when I was kid.

I saw some prime Charles Barkley in your game from the clips. 

Yeah. I’ve been called Chuck. I’ve heard the Zion, the Dwight Howard stuff. I like the Chuck and the Zion comparisons more just because they got a little bit more of a handle. 


As someone who prides themselves on conditioning and being in incredible shape, how much did getting Covid-19 last year throw you off? I know you’ve spoken about how important it is for people to get the vaccine.

It was different. I’d never been in a situation like that. I felt like I just couldn’t, no matter how much air I was getting in, it wasn’t working. I couldn’t use it for anything. It was almost like I was filtered. But it was strange, having the virus was tough because I had a lot of the symptoms. But just the recovery, it felt like such a long time, no games and using oxygen on the sidelines, which I rarely have had to do in my career. I’m glad I’m over it. And I’m hoping that nobody else has to deal with it. And there’s a vaccine for a reason and I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with it. I think it’s better to have it than to not have it, even if you do get it again, at least you’re lowering the chances of getting the virus. But, at the end of the day, it’s a person’s choice for their body and they’re the only one that can make that choice. After that, the rest of that falls on their family, their friends and whoever else is around them.


You really do seem like one of the chillest, most laid back guys in the NFL. How does that balance with playing such a violent sport?

I don’t know. I’m just myself. I can’t be anybody else, I can’t fit the mold of the typical football player, your grinding gritty tough guy. I can only be who I’ve always been and I’m not going to ever change myself for anybody else. I enjoy the things that I do. And, once football is over, I’m just going to fall back into the passions and the hobbies that I’ve always had.


Do you think that inspires kids who like football, but also have other interests outside of the game? 

Absolutely. But I’ve just got to keep my head straight, keep on having success, keep on pushing for my team to have success. And I think kids will start to follow that lead, know that they don’t have to fall into a certain mold or be a certain person to have success on the football field. Just be you and enjoy the game.

Speaking of life after football, do you know what you want to do? Have you thought about it a lot?

Well, I don’t want to be a commentator. I know that.


Okay. We can check that off.

You can check that off right now. Once I’m done with football, I’m out. Maybe as a guest star for a big game. That might be fun. But I won’t be a Romo, none of that. A Howie Long. I’m good. I’ll do what I do now. I like playing video games, I like playing other sports. Might get me on a celebrity basketball game one time. You won’t get me into celebrity boxing. I think it’s foolish enough as it is. You’re not going to get me on that.


So, Logan Paul can’t challenge you. That’s not going to happen.

I’d beat the brakes off of Logan Paul, but I have bigger fish to fry. I got a career to take care of. But I feel like I’d like to be like Jim Brown, like he expanded his whole avenues of where he was going and what he was doing. I’d liked to do voiceover work with certain shows that I’ve watched, like anime. That’d be real fun. Get into movies and TV shows, and find a way to just stay busy, as well as to entertain that historical and paleontological side in my brain that wants to go do things all over the world.

They’re going to keep making Jurassic Park movies. You have to get a Cameo in one of them.

No they better not. I’m not going to get a Cameo on this one, which is a shame. But I don’t want to another one. I was good with the first one….


They’re already talking about a Fast and The Furious and Jurassic Park crossover.

I will show up to the Universal Studios headquarters with some boxing gloves. I’ll tell the executive producer to come outside, because there’s no way they’re going to ruin my franchise like that. Fast and Furious is on movie nine or 10 or whatever it is. Jurassic Park is the first series, the first three were pretty damn good. The first movie was historic. Jurassic World was good, the second movie was pretty good, but I don’t need any more. Just wrap it up and we can move on.


Anything else you’d think you’d act in? Would you do a Marvel movie?

Yeah. It just depends on how it is.nThere are some movies that they’ve done where I needed it to be more serious, and they made it a little bit more comical. And there’s some movies that are comical. I’m great with it. It depends. It got to be committed to the theme they’re going for. Guardians of the Galaxy, I would have loved to be a part of that. That was great.

Logan is not a part of the MCU but I’d love to be a part of that one, since it was so faithful to the theme of the comic book. It’s just giving the accuracy and the feel of the comic down. If it’s accurate to what the source material is, I’d want to be a part of it just because I’m a fan of that kind of art.


Let’s talk about the Browns a bit. What’s it going to be like to have Clowney on the other side of you on that line?

Man, we got Big Bill, we got Malik, we got Clowney, we got me. I’ve been saying this all the preseason, you can’t double team everybody. They got to pick their poison and someone’s going to go off. I have confidence in my guys. If we can stay healthy, God willing. It could be very scary. And those guys are going to be pushing the pocket in the middle of the line waiting for quarterback to step up away from us, right into the arms of one of those big guys. So that’s the way it is, to stop the run, we’ll be set.


As a Browns fan, I have to ask about this. What did you think of JOK in he first pre-season game?

JOK was going off. I love what I saw from JOK. His first few plays were tackles for loss and a sack. Man, it was beautiful to watch. I think the first interaction we had, other than a “Hey what’s up? How you doing?” It was on the field and I went up to him and I was looking at him up and down, like “Man, you’re pretty small for a linebacker. Are you sure they won’t try to beef you up in the weight room?” He looked at me in the eye, he was like, “But ask them if they can block me though.” 


Wow. 

“You don’t have to be big at all if they can’t block you.” I was like “Hey, I got to be this big so they don’t block me. But if you could do with this size, you got it.”


How are you and Baker going into this season as the leaders of the team? With setting the tone and all of that?

It’s more just like an everyday motivating guys that we have to prepare, like “This week is Kansas City. Just be here before we even know it.” So whether you’re going to be on this team in a couple of weeks, or you’re not, you got to make sure that you got the offense and defensive playbook down and you’re in the best shape of your life because it’s a long season, that just got a little bit longer.


Talk to me about this Ladder partnership and how it all came together. Seems like a really good situation for you. 

It is. I knew they would take care of me. They came to me and they showed me the catalog and what they had. I never been supplement focused and too attentive to my nutritional values, but the last couple of years I’ve been trying to do better and be better and try to focus on eating my colors and taking care of the things that are going in and out of my body. 


What’s it mean for you personally when a brand aligns themselves with you like this? Has to feel good?

It’s a big thing knowing that they’re going to have all my nutritional needs all in one stop shop and everything that I need is just arm length away to set the house, to call away and I’ll be able to be ready on game day. And, after the game, they’re going to have me covered, as well. It’s just a perfect setup.

Latest in Sports