Myles Garrett gave one big reason why he can't worry one bit about the injuries he's incurred over the past year.
Actually, he gave 73 of them.
"The more you worry about it, the more it slows you down," Garrett said, "and you can't do that against 73."
Seventy-three, of course, is 10-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas. The two have yet to square off on the practice field -- Thomas didn't participate in any on-field activities during the spring -- but there won't be much holding them back from doing just that at training camp, which kicks off this afternoon.
Garrett confirmed what coach Hue Jackson said Wednesday: He's ready to go and won't be limited to start training camp after suffering a lateral foot sprain near the end of minicamp. When it happened, Garrett crumpled to the turf and the players around him went silent, but he said he knew pretty quickly the injury wasn't anything of major concern.
Garrett said he was out of a walking boot within a week of the injury.
"After a couple of days, I knew it wasn't too bad," Garrett said. "They were keeping me out and protecting my future. After a couple of weeks, I felt fine. It was really about rehabbing and making it stronger so something like this wouldn't happen again."
Garrett's health wasn't groundbreaking news at the start of training camp because of the breadcrumbs he left on social media in the days leading up to it.
Asked by a fan about the state of his foot, Garrett responded with a video of him leg-pressing with a full rack of plates and his friend sitting atop it. The weight was roughly 1,450 pounds, he said.
"I (pressed) about four or five times and then kept going," Garrett said.
Garrett has big goals for his rookie season but stressed he needs to prove he's worthy of a first-team spot first. The amount of time -- albeit limited -- he received on the field during the spring gave him the taste. Now, he's poised to embrace his first training camp with the same kind of mindset and work ethic that's carried him this far.
"He is a guy that just goes out there and goes to work, works hard and proves that he could be on this team," Kirksey said. "He is just an overall great player for us. You just see the flashes, whether in the weight room or him exploding out of his stance, things like that, you can just tell that a guy is going to be a good or have the ability to be good. Now, it is all up to him to see how badly he wants it and we will see what he can do in training camp."
