The reason: the Browns see a lot of Peppers in Garrett, including body type and skill sets.
So what does Garrett see in Peppers after watching the highlight reel?
“Motor and efficiency,” Garrett said Friday. “He has about two or three moves that are his go-to, that he knows he can win one off of, and he’ll set up those moves all game. He’ll give you something that you can work with, something to keep you off-balance and then hit you with that move that you’ve been waiting on all game but you didn’t know when it was going to come. And he’ll get passed you.”
Carolina drafted Peppers, who is fourth on the NFL’s all-time sack list with 158.5, No. 2 overall in 2002 and is still going strong in year 17.
Garrett is looking forward to meeting Peppers, 38, for the first time on Sunday and he hopes it won’t be the last.
“I’d like to talk to him in the offseason, learn from him, just pass rusher to pass rusher,” Garrett said.
One of Garrett’s many goals is to lead the league in sacks, but he is currently fourth in the NFL with 11.5 this season. Garrett has 18.5 through 23 games played. Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald leads everyone with 16.5 sacks in 2018 and it’s unlikely Garrett will be able to catch him.
While leapfrogging Donald this year might seem like a stretch at this point Garrett still can make history and break the Browns franchise single-season sack record of 14.0 set by Reggie Camp in 1984.
“Honestly, I have not been thinking about it,” Garrett said of Camp’s mark. “I am just trying to get as many as I can. For me, the bar is the guy at the top and exceeding him – not the sack record because once you pass that, it is still more season to go, hopefully.”
“We are just both the ultimate competitors,” Peppers said. “It is just fun. A lot of jawing. A lot of smack talking. He feeds off of it and plays better. I feed off of it and play better.”
His absence was excused and it is expected that Johnson will play Sunday against Carolina.
Ward, who has not practiced all week, was ruled out and remains in the NFL’s concussion protocol after suffering a concussion in the first half of last Sunday’s 29-13 loss at Houston.
“He had a really good day today. He was the topic of a lot of conversations on how well he practiced out there,” Williams said.
The Browns are expected to activate Mitchell from IR by Saturday’s deadline and be available against the Panthers.
When asked about Panthers head coach Ron Rivera comparing Baker Mayfield to former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, Williams told this gem about a time he played in a charity golf tournament with McMahon in Memphis.
“The great one was he got upset because I took the money and he threw all of his clubs in the lake beside the clubhouse. No, he did,” Williams said. “Wait, this is even better. Then he leaves and all of a sudden I see him come back out, and he goes out there and pulls the golf bag out of the lake. You want to know why? His car keys are in the golf bag, and he threw the golf bag back in there and went and got in his car. Yeah, it was good. He played barefoot the whole day, too.”