The most memorable moment from the 2020 NFL season, in my opinion, was one that didn't involve a flashy juke, an insane one-handed grab or some incredible display of quarterback arm strength.
No, it involved a never-before-seen display of frustration, outrage, self-defense or some combination of the three involving two players that sent shockwaves throughout the NFL universe. It involved Browns pass rusher Myles Garrett and Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph, an exchange of words -- those of which are still heavily disputed -- and a massive brawl that followed. It involved an image that will forever be etched in my mind, and I'm sure the same goes for many other fans.
Myles Garrett hits Mason Rudolph with his helmet.(Jason Miller/Getty Images)
But Garrett doesn't want to be defined by the above image, no matter how permanent the stain is or how much controversy will swirl around it until (if) the truth is ever revealed. He shared his personal growth with Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com in a tell-all interview.
"What happened, happened, and at the end of the day you have to move forward," Garrett said. "I was given a second chance and you have to make the best of it. I know something like that won't happen again, but life's funny that way. Fame is fleeting, athletic ability is fleeting and you have to make the most of it while it's here.
"I believe everything happens for a reason. It's just seeing those lessons and taking them in stride. What can I get out of this and how can I make myself a better person and how and am I going to make people better around me who chose to stay, who chose to help me improve upon myself. What can I do for them? How can we get better from here?''
Cabot notes that Garrett captained the NFL Waterboys program, which provides water to the poor and needy, just four days after he was reinstated from his suspension by the NFL. But during his suspension, Garrett had several troubling thoughts running through his head, including whether or not he was going to continue playing football.
"Whether it was because of their decision or my decision, it was whether this was going to continue," Garrett said.
He questioned where he would end up, how he could continue to provide for others without football, even who he was as a person. However, he believes he would have found something else to do, and as a "poet, humanitarian, activist, animal lover and aspiring paleontologist," as Cabot notes, Garrett surely would have been able to fill that void, at least in part.
But that won't matter, for now. He's ready to retake the NFL field and return to action against the Ravens in Week 1 on Sunday. Still, he's not acting as though he has moved past the incident. Part of that is working out his differences with Rudolph.
"If it were to happen, I'd be fine with it,'' Garrett said, referencing a face-to-face talk with Rudolph. "Not just fine, but I wouldn't mind it and I'd be happy to make it happen, if there were a way. I'm not sure how I'd go about that, how I'd broach that. I'm not even sure if he'd want to do that but I wouldn't have a problem sitting down with him and just not talking about the incident, just talking man-to-man, how we move forward, and just being better men and football players and not letting something like that happen again.
"Whether we can do that, I'm not sure, but I'd be willing to extend the olive branch and make that happen.''
Whether or not this meeting could take place is tough to say. After all, the two have backed up their differing stances when recalling what happened. Garrett says Rudolph called him "the stupid N word." Rudolph has called that accusation "totally untrue."
"It'd be like other instances where people agree to disagree,'' Garrett said. "Just what I heard, just what you said you said and that's what it is. If you say you didn't say that, that's okay, but that's what I heard. It is what it is at the end of the day. We're men and it shouldn't be one situation that keeps you from respecting each other because you can't look past that.
"If he wants to hold onto it, I'm not going to have any problems with him if he still has a problem with me."
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