Myles Garrett wasn’t going to win his appeal anyway

Don’t kid yourselves. Myles Garrett used a helmet as a weapon with the intention to hurt Mason Rudolph. He wasn’t going to win his appeal anyway.

The Cleveland Browns won their most recent game by beating the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers at home on Thursday Night Football. However, they lost star defensive end Myles Garrett for the rest of the season, as his suspension was upheld by the NFL league’s office. Garrett has been suspended indefinitely for striking Mason Rudolph in the head with a helmet.

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Mark Carman, along with former NFL offensive linemen Geoff Schwartz, discussed the likelihood of Garrett getting his indefinite suspension reduced by the league. Let’s just say that both Schwartz and Verderame didn’t think there was any chance Garrett’s suspension was getting reduced by any means (38:22).

“He’s not winning this,” said Schwartz. “He took a helmet and hit another player with it…The other day I was doing a Periscope and I grabbed a helmet and I like, beat it on my hand. It’s a deadly object. You can really hurt someone. This is crossing the line.”

Schwartz would add that the reason the suspension was indefinite is likely due to the Browns being alive for the AFC playoffs. If they were to qualify, no, the NFL league office wasn’t going to let him play in the Browns’ first postseason game since 2002. Had Cleveland been eliminated from contention already, this suspension would have been just through the end of the regular season.

With former NFL wide receiver James Thrash hearing the appeal, there was some small belief that he would lower Garrett’s suspension because Thrash has a reputation for siding with the players in these sorts of appeals. While he did lessen Steelers offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey’s suspension from three games to two, all other fines that were doled out were upheld.

At the end of the day, the NFL isn’t going to go easy on a player who actively tried to hurt another, especially one in a standalone primetime game like Thursday Night Football. Garrett shouldn’t be suspended for life, but the rest of the season will do. He should be back with the Browns in 2020 after missing the rest of the 2019 NFL campaign.

Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

• Who wins the AFC Wild Card spots? (10:31)
• Is the NFC playoff picture already set? (13:28)
• Rams-Ravens odds (33:39)
• Will a team sign Colin Kaepernick after workout? (46:56)

All this and more!

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