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Myles Garrett, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft, will be back on the field for the Cleveland Browns after a two-game absence spent dealing with covid-19 and how it “kicked my butt.”
The defensive end, who turns 25 on Dec. 29, knew what he was in for when he tested positive Nov. 20.
“My parents had it, kicked their butt,” he told reporters Friday. “I had it, kicked my butt. I was in pain. It wasn’t great.”
Garrett, who said he was “absolutely” surprised by his test result, described body aches and a severe headache as well as a fever, coughing, sneezing and losing his sense of smell for nearly two weeks. Of concern to him was the possibility that he might have heart problems or myocarditis. Many people, and athletes, who have had the virus have experienced issues, but Garrett said he had been checked out.
“That was my main worry,” Garrett said. “If my lungs are a little bit heavy, if I’m tired or anything happens where I’m a little bit out of breath, I’ll fight through that. But there’s nothing you can do with the heart, you can’t play with that, there’s no getting around it.”
The Browns plan to monitor his exertion against the Titans. During his illness, he was told not to lift weights or do cardio workouts. “Tried to do my best to get a little bit here and there, tried to stretch so I wasn’t so stiff when I came back,” he said. “Really, I was forced to lay on the couch and watch my team carry on. They did well.”
Garrett, like many others, cannot pinpoint where he contracted the virus. “It’s kind of worrisome because I don’t know if I got it here, I don’t know if I got it in the game. I don’t really go out to eat … ” he said. “Really not sure whether I got it at the market picking up groceries. 2020’s been interesting. We’re all just trying to carry on through it.”
