'He's all the way bought in': Browns DL coach Jacques Cesaire sees motivated Myles Garrett
BEREA — There was a month or so when a pall of sort hung over the Cleveland Browns like a London fog. This wasn't the pall of a 3-14 season, but of a potential seismic change to their roster.
Then, in early March, All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett exchanged his very public trade demand for a four-year, $160 million contract extension. Suddenly, the fog lifted and all was much better.
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Certainly it was for defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire.
"Yeah, I don't even remember that, OK?" Cesaire said on the final day of minicamp on June 12. "All right. That's the first thing. The second thing, every player is entitled to their own opinion. If that's how he felt at the time, that's how he felt. People can change their minds."
Garrett was present and extremely active over the course of the Browns' recently concluded three-day minicamp. Although its format limited how much he could really showcase himself, he managed to make at least one play a day on one of three Browns quarterbacks — Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco or Dillon Gabriel — who got reps against the No. 1 defensive line.
That was all Cesaire needed to see to give himself selective amnesia about that time from Super Bowl week until the Sunday before the start of free agency when his star pass rusher's future in Cleveland was in doubt.
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"Obviously he's here now," Cesaire said. "He's happy, he's engaged with the guys. He was working his butt off yesterday, so Myles is here. He's all the way bought in. He loves what we've done with the defensive line, and I know he can't wait to get the season started."
That season Cesaire can't wait to get started could end up being Garrett's best yet. That's exactly where defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz set it on June 4 when he came out and said he was "going to have the best season of his career and has to, right?"
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (95) closes in on New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) during the second half of an NFL football game at Huntington Bank Field, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio.
That wasn't an issue for Garrett when he was asked after the first day of minicamp about the comment. Of course, he acknowledged he agreed with Schwartz's "with great power comes great responsibility" line he cribbed from Spiderman.
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Cesaire, though, said he doesn't believe the motivation comes from the offseason drama surrounding the contract. Instead, he said he sees a player motivated by a season in which the team bottomed out and he himself didn't quite end up with the individual season he or his position coach believed he could have had.
"Yeah, obviously after going through the season that we had last year, and Myles had a really good season, but he left a lot of meat on the bone and he himself said that I can do better," Cesaire said. "So I know Myles is a prideful man and he works extremely hard, and I know he's going to go out here and put his best foot forward and go out and dominate like he usually does."
Garrett finished as a finalist for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award last season after having won it the year before. He also finished second in the league in sacks with 14, although he entered the final week tied with eventual sack leader Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals, who finished with 17.5.
It was also the year when Garrett etched his name among the all-time sack leaders, at least dating back to it becoming an official statistic in 1982. He became the youngest to reach 100 career sacks and the only player to have four consecutive seasons of at least 14.
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That's the kind of season Cesaire said he feels confident Garrett can surpass.
"Do I expect our best players to play their best for us? Absolutely," Cesaire said. "And if he happens to have the best year of his life, the best season of his life, then next year I'm going to want even more. So it is about him coming out every day, working to get better, working with the guys every day and helping them get better and I think we'll be fine."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Myles Garrett motivated in eyes of Browns DL coach Jacques Cesaire
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