All-Pro pass-rusher Myles Garrett left little doubt on Wednesday that the foul taste in his mouth related to the Cleveland Browns' 45-14 wild-card playoff loss at the Houston Texans in January hasn't gone away.
"It's definitely at the forefront of my mind always," Garrett said about the defeat, per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN. "That's the last taste of football that we all had. I'm trying to make that apparent to everyone and continue to keep it as motivation for myself."
Garrett won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year Award after the Browns finished the regular season ranked first in the league in total defense (average of 270.2 yards allowed per game) and first in passing defense (164.7 yards surrendered per contest), according to ESPN stats. However, then-rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud torched Cleveland's defense to the tune of 274 passing yards and three passing touchdowns in the 31-point postseason laugher.
Garrett didn't call his shot on Wednesday, but he made it known he's targeting more than just personal honors heading into the summer.
"God willing, I can build on the success that we had last year, have everyone be healthy and win a Super Bowl," Garrett said. "That's where my eyes are only."
The Browns remain one of four current teams to have never taken part in a Super Bowl, and Cleveland hasn't made an appearance in a conference championship game since January 1990. As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Browns at +150 odds to make the playoffs for the upcoming season.
Adding a ring to his résumé could cement Garrett's status as one of the greatest all-around players in franchise history, but he suggested on Wednesday that discussions about his legacy are for down the road.
"I want it for those guys because they deserve [it]," Garrett said about Cleveland's pursuit of a Super Bowl, as shared by Fred Greetham of 247Sports. "They go out there every single day and earn it by working hard, by putting in the time, getting up early, leaving late and it takes those kind of leaders every single day to really see that what we're doing is special and we want to show that we can sustain this for an entire year and build something special."
Credit Garrett for preaching a team-first mentality, but the fact is that the fate of the 2024 Browns will likely be determined by the play and health of a certain quarterback who has made just 12 total regular-season starts since the end of the 2020 campaign.
