Garrett sticking to original plan of avoiding HOF until he makes it
Before Myles Garrett ever played a snap in the NFL, the Browns defensive end made it known he didn’t want to step foot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame unless he were to earn induction.
The long-standing goal came to the forefront Wednesday with the Browns touring the Hall of Fame as a team during mandatory minicamp.
After the Browns held a brief practice at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, coach Kevin Stefanski declined to say whether Garrett would visit the Hall.
But a person familiar with the situation said Garrett did not join the tour, keeping intact a personal policy he set years ago.
In July 2017, Garrett told the Beacon Journal he didn’t want to step foot into the Hall unless he had his own bronze bust in it.
“I’d like to be in it,” Garrett said as a rookie five years ago. “That’s going to take a lot of work. It’s kind of strange. I don’t want to see [the Hall]. I want to see it if I’m able to achieve my goal. It’s kind of like a test to me. You don’t deserve to go there unless you’re good enough to be in it. I want to see the greatness that’s come before me, but I also want to be a part of it.
“I don’t feel like I’m worthy to be able to go in there and see guys who played 10, 12, 15, 20 years and gave their all to the game. I haven’t even played my first game yet. So once I get a taste and maybe feel like I deserve to even walk among those guys, then that’s different. I deserve to be among the pros, but the real greats of the game who laid the groundwork and the foundation, that’s something different.”
Garrett, 26, revisited his strategy last week when he hosted a community event at a movie theater in Valley View.
“Honestly, I don’t want to go [to the Hall],” he said Friday. “I’ve kept myself from going because I don’t want to go until I’m in it. Until I have my face in it, I don’t want to go. If we go as a team and Kevin [Stefanski] says, ‘I want you to go,’ that’s
fair play. But I’m not trying to go until they have me in there for good.”
The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2017 is on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
Through five professional seasons, Garrett has two first-team All-Pro and three Pro Bowl selections on his resume. In 68 regular-season games, he has compiled 58½ sacks, including a career-high 16 in 2021.
“If you play this game, you want to be the best at it, and if you don’t have that mindset, then you’re not going to last very long in this league,” Browns linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said Wednesday. “For [Garrett] to set them goals, I expect nothing else from him. I mean, it’s kind of early right now, but I say he’s a shoo-in [for the Hall]. We’ll see.”