'He's a freak of nature': Browns' Myles Garrett leaves Vikings in awe after 2 practices

BEREA — Justin Jefferson didn't have to worry about standing in the way of Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year. That doesn't mean the Minnesota Vikings superstar wide receiver didn't have Garrett on his mind as well over the last two days.

"It's tough to go up against somebody like him," Jefferson said after the Vikings and Browns wrapped up two days of joint practice . "He's a freak of nature, to see how big he is, how fast he is, how explosive he is. It’s only going to get us 10 times better. We're not going to see a Myles Garrett every single week, so to go up against him in these joint practices and really get physical and go period after period with him getting these one-on-one reps with him is going to make our (offensive) line 20 times better."

Everyone wearing purple jerseys during the two joint practices had Garrett on their mind. It was hard not to, considering the way he can alter an offense's entire practice by repeatedly blowing up the timing of plays

Garrett's Thursday was reasonably tame, at least in terms of wreaking the Vikings' timing. Of course, the Browns franchise sack leader had more than made his statement on Wednesday, when he lived in the Minnesota backfield and left quarterback Sam Darnold seeing ghosts — mostly like in No. 95 jerseys — again.

"He’s a great player, and every single play you can [see why]," Darnold said. "You know where he’s lined up, you know where you might have to slide while also recognizing what the coverage is and what the backend players are doing and what your routes are and where you have to go with the football. So he just kind of adds another element that you got to worry about as an offense."

That Garrett was doing all of that while going against Christian Darrisaw, one of the best young left tackles in the game, only made the performance all the more impressive. Darrisaw was the highest-graded tackle in the league in pass blocking in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus, only allowing six sacks, 13 hits and 12 quarterback pressures.

Garrett may have done all of that Wednesday alone. It's safe to say, between the two days, his totals would've been close.

"You know every single snap he can wreck the game, and we've got a really good left tackle in Christian Darrisaw," Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said. "[I] thought he had some great work against him in the one-on-one setting, took it over to the team setting. … But you can just see the way his movement skills, power, speed, he's got every aspect of rush."

The Browns' scheme, in the second year with defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, has been the football version of the science experiment mixing vinegar and baking soda. Only, instead of creating an exploding papier-mache volcano, it's helped accentuate what Garrett already was — a quarterback-seeking missile.

O'Connell, who's also the Vikings' offensive play-caller, said that's way too simple a way to look at Garrett's success. The 14 sacks Garrett had a year ago were actually two shy of the franchise-record 16 he posted in both the 2021 and 2022 season, neither of which were in Schwartz's scheme.

"I don't think people talk about his instincts enough," O'Connell said. "He understands, through his experiences, the types of tools that may be used against him to try to mitigate some of his impact, and he's ready for it and can play off of that well. And I think they do a good job, because they've got experience with it as a staff, really building a rush plan to attack things like where the slide's going, pressure, where they know exactly what's going to be dictated by having 95 over on that edge."

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: 'He's a freak of nature': Browns' Myles Garrett leaves Vikings in awe after 2 practices