Myles Garrett’s Racism Claim Doesn’t Add Up for One Big, Cynical Reason

• Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett was suspended indefinitely following his attack on Mason Rudolph of the Pittsburg Steelers.
• Garrett has been cleared by the NFL to return this season.
• He still claims that racism was at play, and that the league is covering it up.

You would think Myles Garrett would just take his punishment and move on.

Because the quarterback he decided to smash over the head with a helmet was only the Steelers’ backup, he got off relatively easy.

Imagine if he’d tried that with someone like Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady.

Yeah, he’d have been out for longer than six games.

Myles Garrett seems intent on pushing his luck

It was leaked to the press that Myles Garrett had claimed Rudolph used a racial slur against him, which prompted his reaction.

He reiterated that allegation this week, claiming Rudolph called him a “stupid n-word.”

Here’s Garrett talking to ESPN (via Twitter):

The problem with his claim is that the NFL already has players “mic’d up” for footage for broadcast networks and NFL Films.

So, in theory, anything that Mason Rudolph said has been recorded. If not from his own mic, then from one nearby.

How does Garrett explain this? He suggests there’s a cover-up:

So something was said. I know something was said. Now whether the NFL wants to acknowledge it, that’s up to them.

Would the NFL risk a cover-up for a nobody like Mason Rudolph?

Let’s look at this logically, beginning with the primary players in this incident.

We have Myles Garrett: the first pick overall in the 2017 draft, an important piece of the Cleveland Browns organization.

Then we have Mason Rudolph. The backup quarterback for the Steelers. A third-round pick in the 2018 draft. He’ll earn less from his entire four-year contract than Myles Garrett makes in a single year.

Why would the NFL jeopardize its reputation on race relations over a nobody like Rudolph?

Imagine if the audio ever found its way into the public domain. It would be a PR nightmare, the likes of which the league would never fully recover from.

If there was racism at play, the NFL could take advantage

On the contrary, the NFL could seize upon any real evidence of racism and use it to their benefit.

This is a league that’s working with Jay-Z to try and clean up its image. And that isn’t coming cheap. Unlike Mason Rudolph, comparatively.

Imagine there was audio of Mason Rudolph racially abusing Myles Garrett.

The NFL could make a real example of Rudolph. It would go a long way to showing that the league takes racism seriously. God knows they could do with some positive PR in that department, especially with Colin Kaepernick due to drop his memoir soon.

They could show they don’t condone racism, while only losing a nobody like Mason Rudolph. It would be a massive win for the league.

There’s no advantage in protecting someone like Rudolph, who struggled to secure his job against competition from an undrafted rookie. Myles Garrett is the bigger star, and it’s not even close.

If this were an elite quarterback like Matthew Stafford or Aaron Rodgers, then yeah, I could see the league cynically trying to brush the incident under the carpet.

For Mason Rudolph, though? Not a chance.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.