How Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett is embracing a journey of personal growth

BEREA — The handwritten letters are fading on the back of Myles Garrett's workout shirt as the Browns season wears along. However, much like the individual upon whose T-shirt those letters exist, they're still easy to see: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Translated in the New International Version, the verse reads, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

It's from the Old Testament, the 21st book of the Christian Bible that dates back somewhere between 450 and 180 B.C. However, the message those four verses carry resonates loudly for one of the best defensive players in the NFL, one who's only days away from his 28th birthday.

And how do those words resonate for Garrett, the Browns' All-Pro defensive end?

"No one does it alone," Garrett told the Beacon Journal in a recent exclusive interview. "Never forget where you came from is what I get from it. I surrounded myself with good people, family, friends, who make each other stronger by having a close bond and looking out for each other and taking care of each other."

Myles Garrett has come a long way since taken No. 1 in draft out of Texas A&M

Garrett's come a long way from where he was when the Browns selected him No. 1 overall in the 2017 draft out of Texas A&M. It's evident in every game when he goes out on the field, where opposing offenses are throwing everything except actual concrete barriers at him to keep him away from the quarterback on every snap.

However, that growth, which he said started a couple of years into his pro career, has allowed Garrett to unlock a different level to himself. It's a level that couldn't be achieved until he realized that, as the verse says, a "cord of three is not easily broken."

For Garrett, it wasn't that he wouldn't allow others to join. It was about acknowledging to others that he needed that help.

"I was more of a person who would be willing to accept help," Garrett said. "I wouldn't go seeking it. I'm going to fight against the flow of things or the stream until I get where I'm going. I have people who come along and say it's an easier way. I've done it before. I have experienced, I have wisdom.

"Guys who were former professionals, people who have lived sort of the life that I'm living myself, and then parents who know me well, friends who know me well, know what I want to achieve, know what I want to do, what I want to get out of life, and who are willing to help me and receptive to my help as well."

The evidence of that growth has shown itself in the locker room in the midst of a season unlike any other. Rarely has a team more personified such cliched sayings as "next man up" or "hold the rope" than the 2023 Browns, who have watched as teammate after teammate has sustained injuries which have cost them games, if not the rest of the season.

Yet, despite an almost-weekly key injury, the Browns are 9-5 and heading to Houston on Sunday to play the Texans with a chance — with some help — to clinch a playoff berth in Garrett's home state on Christmas Eve. Even if they don't get the help, they're still essentially in control of their own destiny as the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoff race.

There are a number of players and coaches who have garnered some of the credit for the way the team has rolled with the punches. That includes one very prominent player on defense.

What is helping make Myles Garrett such a great player for the Browns this season

"Myles Garrett," defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo told the Beacon Journal. "When you look at Myles Garrett, the guy plays the most snaps on defense on the D-line, and he's still out there at practice. The fastest guy running around, still the most locked in meetings, still the first guy in the building.

"When you have a guy like that who is so talented but also pays attention to details so much, it just gives you a model of just how much opportunity there is for us. When you have a guy like that who doesn't have to do all that to be great, still doing all that, it just gives you something to look to."

Garrett, though, needed his own person or moment to open his eyes to what he had been lacking there. It wasn't a former football legend or even a current one who provided that for him.

Instead, it was an individual who was right there with Garrett all along — his father, Lawrence.

"It was probably the rekindling or the betterment of my relationship with my dad," Garrett said. "I think once that became steady, I was open to more help from outside sources."

Part of that was just because of the natural ability Garrett possessed. There are few players in the NFL who are more freakish in their God-given abilities than the 6-foot-4, 272-pound Garrett.

When you possess that kind of talent, it's not that things come easily. However, you also are more apt to be able to work through the issues because of that talent.

That can create a situation in whch a person becomes very set in his ways, because his ways have paid dividends. That can be as a player, as a locker room influence, as any number of things.

"It's not easy at all," Browns linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. told the Beacon Journal. "He's been the same way for a while, and it's worked for him. He's obviously got to this level by being locked in on his craft and being the person and player that he is.

"But I think taking that next step and being that leader, bringing guys along with you, that's what the best do, the greatest players do. They bring players along with them to their level of greatness and raise players' level greatness up. So I think he does a great job at that."

Garrett bristled a bit at the idea of pride standing in the way of personal growth. Instead, he attributed it to a laser-like focus.

Whatever the reason for why it took as long as it did for him to find that connection isn't the point to Garrett anymore. It's something he has found, and he's trying to now pass along.

"It's never been a prideful thing for me to avoid help," he said. "It's just a matter of I want to win. I don't know of another way. It never crossed my mind to be like, 'Hey, I got to go ask for help.' There's a better way. It's like, 'I'll figure it out myself because I can work it out.' But then sometimes you get stuck in a rut or you are doing it, but you're getting very little progress, whatever it is, and then you have someone who's gone through it.

"People are willing to help you through it. Take advantage of those people who are gracious enough to be there for you."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns' star Myles Garrett embraces journey of personal growth