Myles Garrett ran away with the 2025 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award thanks to his single-season record 23 sacks, and even though the Cleveland Browns are set to undergo a lot of change once again, fans can take solace in the fact that they still have this anchor on defense leading the charge. It was great to see him have a historic year on the heels of a trade request and a massive contract extension, and now the bar has been raised to exponential heights.
Many neutral fans have had a gripe with Garrett for the fact that they believe he is wasting his career on a losing team and reiterating how they don’t feel bad for him because he got paid and had his chance to leave and didn’t take it. It’s always easy to criticize from an outside perspective, as loyalty isn’t always viewed fondly, and Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver Puka Nacua recently shared some comments that align with that disappointing way of thinking.
Puka Nacua stopped by The Pat McAfee Show during Super Bowl week to talk about a number of things, and he tossed out the comparison of Myles Garrett being the NFL’s version of Giannis Antetokounmpo. His comparison was based on Giannis’ recent back-and-forth trade saga.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be here,’ and then, ‘hey, look, I’m back, guys!” Nacua said.
Puka Nacua says Myles Garrett is the NFL’s equivalent of Giannis Antetokounmpo:
“It’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be here.’ And then, ‘Hey, look, I’m back, guys.’”
(🎥 @PatMcAfeeShow) pic.twitter.com/JzP3afnn8I
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 6, 2026
As NFL fans learned this season by some of the things Nacua has said and done, he may not be the best judge of character and doesn’t always think before he speaks, so nobody should be taking this comment too seriously. Some players are loyal, and sometimes even loyal to a fault, and it’s completely fine.
Garrett certainly could have pushed his way out of Cleveland, just like Antetokounmpo could do the same in Milwaukee, but it means more to water your own grass and build something great than to go somewhere else where the grass is already watered. By all accounts, he is happy in Cleveland, and hopefully the team can keep improving around him to silence some of these nonsense takes.
When Pedro Martinez left the Boston Red Sox back in the day, he said he wouldn’t have traded three rings somewhere else for the one he won in Boston. That type of loyalty and that way of thinking should always be appreciated, and players like Garrett shouldn’t be faulted for doing everything they can to build where they are, as opposed to joining a finished product elsewhere.
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Myles Garrett Predicts Winner Of Super Bowl