Cleveland Browns: Myles Garrett meeting with Roger Goodell gives no clarity

Myles Garrett met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell but that gave no clarity to the status of the Cleveland Browns indefinitely suspended star

Back on Nov. 14, the Cleveland Browns won a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they lost much more as it was also a game that showed just how much they had unraveled under head coach Freddie Kitchens.

The first-year head coach had lost control of his team and they were unable to win and keep the focus on that. Instead, the attention was on the fact that defensive end Myles Garrett got into a fight with Mason Rudolph, which ended with Garrett hitting the quarterback in the head with his own helmet.

Several suspensions were handed out — except for Rudolph who actually started the fight — but Garrett was punished the most harshly. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell decided to make an example out of him and suspended the star indefinitely.

It seemed to be a bit too much since there was no definitive return date. And now, even after the season is over, we still have no clue if Garrett will be back next season. In fact, Garrett even reportedly met with Goodell on Monday and there is still to set date for the return of No. 95.

There are no excuses for what Garrett did but the commissioner isn’t really acting in the best interest of anyone right now. He’s tried to push the M.O. that he’s a tough disciplinarian but far too often that leads to him acting in an unreasonable way.

For example, there have been other cases where a player has used a helmet as a weapon. For example, Antonio Smith swung a helmet at Richie Incognito in a 2013 preseason game. His punishment from Roger? Two preseason games and one regular season contest.

The difference is simple. Smith did this in a preseason game and no one saw it. As for Garrett, he did it in a Prime Time game which led to fake outrage from people who don’t watch sports and probably have no clue who the players involved were.

Once this story his morning shows, it was over for Garrett. And now, Goodell is continuing to act tough, even though there’s no reason to.

So here we are in February with no idea when Garrett will return — or when he will be notified. And that in itself feels a bit too harsh.