Garrett just wants to be NFL’s No. 1 pick
A&M star says his video to Cowboys was a joke
Aday after a video of Myles Garrett begging his hometown Dallas Cowboys to acquire him in a hypothetical trade-up scenario with the Browns went viral, the Texas A&M defensive end insisted he’s not concerned about which team drafts him April 27.
“It doesn’t matter at all,” Garrett said Saturday night in a video tweeted by Houston TV station FOX 26 KRIV before a ceremony for the Rotary Lombardi Award. “I mean it matters if they’re the first pick or not. That’s where I want to go. I want to hold myself to the highest standard, so that’s No. 1. So whoever’s No. 1, I’ve gotta play for them.”
He also told ESPN the following: “I’ve already said I like the Cowboys because that’s my hometown team. Everybody knows you’re going to like your hometown team. But I want to go No. 1, whoever that is. If that’s Cleveland, I have no problem going up there and playing with them. I’m going to love whatever team and organization that I’m a part of.”
The Browns, of course, have the first overall pick, and draft analysts have universally labeled Garrett the favorite to become the top selection.
But Garrett created a stir among some Browns fans when ESPN.com published a video Friday in which he made a plea to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to trade for him. ESPN.com later explained in a separate story that the footage of Garrett was shot Dec. 8 at the College Football Awards show. Garrett is a native of Arlington, Texas, where the Cowboys play their home games.
“I’m speaking to you, Jerry,” Garrett said in the video. “Mr. (coach Jason) Garrett, make it happen. (Quarterback) Dak Prescott is leading our team right now. I need you to take Tony Romo, take a couple picks and give them to Cleveland so you can pick me up. Please. I’d love to play in Dallas. Just make it happen.”
On Saturday, Garrett downplayed his pitch to the Cowboys.
“I kind of forgot that I had done it,” Garrett said in another video posted by FOX 26 KRIV.
He told ESPN urging the Cowboys to trade for him “was supposed to be pretty much a joke and not taken too seriously.”
“I thought it would be funny to put that in the video, because the video wasn’t supposed to be serious,” he added. “(My friends said), ‘Well maybe they can (trade) Romo or trade all of their picks.’ I said, ‘That’d be one hell of a trade.’ But no, (I wasn’t being serious). I just want to go No. 1.”
On Friday, Garrett told the Houston Chronicle the Browns are his favorite NFL team other than the Cowboys, who have the 28th pick coming off a 13-3 season and a playoff appearance.
“They have the No. 1 pick,” he said of the Browns. “I want to be known as the best.”
Also on Friday, FOX 26 KRIV tweeted Garrett “would love” to play for the Browns and included a video of him answering a question. But on Saturday, the station clarified that Garrett was asked whether he would be OK with playing for the Browns, who set a franchise record for losses last season and finished 1-15.
“Definitely,” Garrett said when asked if he would be all right with playing for the Browns. “People might say they’re this, they’re that or I made a comment about cold weather and they kind of put it toward Cleveland.”
In late December, when it was still uncertain whether the Browns or San Francisco 49ers would have the No. 1 overall pick, Garrett told the Houston Chronicle he would not want to play in a cold-weather city.
“Doesn’t matter (which team gets the No. 1 overall pick) but I’d like not to go anywhere cold,” Garrett said. “Whoever picks me up, I’m going to try and play my best for, to be the best player on the field at any given time. It doesn’t matter who picks me up, I’m going to try and be a franchise player for them.”