Berea, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Browns defensive end Myles Garrett will appeal his indefinite suspension on Wednesday while defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi’s appeal is being heard Monday.
James Thrash, appointed by the NFL and NFLPA, will hear both appeals from the Browns players.
Garrett will travel to New York to have his appeal heard in person a league source confirmed to 92.3 The Fan.
“Myles Garrett is a good person. He is a good person. He is a good individual. He does a lot in the community,” head coach Freddie Kitchens said Monday. “He is a soft-spoken – Myles Garrett is good person, and we are not going to pile on Myles. He had a bad lapse in judgement, and that is it.
“I am still a Myles Garrett fan, and I am still going to support him, our organization is going to support him and his teammates are going to support him, and this coaching staff will support him.”
The current collective bargaining agreement does not allow for an indefinite suspension for on-field behavior, a point that Garrett is expected to make during the hearing.
In the league’s announcement last Friday, the NFL said Garrett would be banned “at a minimum for the remainder of the regular season and postseason” for violating “unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct rules, as well as fighting, removing the helmet of an opponent and using the helmet as a weapon.”
The league wasted no time dropping the hammer on Garrett, after Garrett ripped the helmet off Mason Rudolph and hit the Steelers quarterback squarely on the top of his head with it during an altercation that turned violent in the blink of an eye.
“It was too much of a media debacle for them not to,” defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson said. “If anything is social media driven, they tend to react quickly.”
Replays showed that prior to Garrett hitting Rudolph, Rudolph attempted to remove Garrett’s helmet and may have contacted Garrett’s groin area with his foot while trying to push Garrett off him.
Kitchens avoided saying whether he felt Garrett was provoked.
“Everybody here saw the tape,” Kitchens said. “I am just here to support. I will support Myles. Our team will support Myles. I am not going to get into that. You saw the tape.”
Richardson believes Rudolph got off easy because he escalated the fight.
“If you’re going to suspend [Garrett] indefinitely, [Rudolph should get] a game or 2,” Richardson said. “Make it sound like you as a quarterback can do as you please in this league. Have some type of consequences for your actions as well.”
Richardson, who didn’t excuse Garrett hitting Rudolph with a helmet, believes Garrett was defending himself.
“Of course he was defending himself,” Richardson said. “If a guy is scratching at your face what are you gonna do?
“The helmet [swing] was overboard, let’s get that clear, it was overboard. It was, but I’m not blaming him for defending himself at all.”
The appeals process does not allow for the Browns or anyone within the organization to speak on behalf of Garrett or provide testimony about his character.
Ogunjobi was suspended for 1 game and fined an undisclosed amount for shoving Rudolph in the back as the melee between the Browns and Steelers began to disperse in the closing seconds of Thursday night’s 21-7 Browns win.
The appeal for Steelers center Maurkice Pouncy, who was suspended 3 games and fined for punching and kicking Garrett in the helmet, will be heard Tuesday by Derrick Brooks.
