Vikings Have a Myles Garrett Injury Situation to Monitor
The Minnesota Vikings will take on the Cleveland Browns in London on Sunday, and as of Thursday morning, the injury status of pass rusher Myles Garrett is a bit of a mystery.
Cleveland Browns EDGE Myles Garrett has the chops to wreck a game, and the Minnesota Vikings will watch his pregame status this week via injury.
Because he’s Myles Garrett, the six-time Pro Bowler will likely find a way to play this weekend, but his status is worth monitoring for the rest of the week.
Myles Garrett’s Status for Week 5 Is Officially Questionable
The Browns’ best player has made some storylines more intriguing this week.
No Practice for Myles Garrett on Wednesday
It was only the first practice of the week in London, but Garrett was not present.
NBC Sports‘ Myles Simmons wrote Wednesday, “The Browns have made a quarterback change, but they also have an injury concern with their best player. Cleveland announced defensive end Myles Garrett will not practice on Wednesday due to an ankle injury.”
“Garrett was on the field for 80 percent of Cleveland’s defensive snaps in Sunday’s loss to Detroit, which is in line with his usual playing time. Potentially complicating Garrett’s status is the fact that the Browns will leave for London later on Wednesday to face the Vikings on Sunday.”
Any time the opposition’s best asset doesn’t practice out of the gate in a given week, heads turn.
A Day-to-Day Matter
To be clear, Garrett’s ankle ailment isn’t severe; it’s just worth fans’ attention because he didn’t practice. His status is day-to-day, meaning he could practice as early as Thursday. On Friday, Cleveland’s coaching staff will reveal his formal status for Week 5.
RotoWire on the day-to-day status: “Head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters that Garrett (ankle) won’t practice Wednesday and is considered day-to-day, Ashley Bastock of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. The 29-year-old appears to have sustained an ankle injury in the Browns’ Week 4 loss to the Lions, despite playing 48 defensive snaps and logging two total tackles.”
“Garrett’s practice participation Thursday and Friday will likely provide the best indication of whether he can suit up for the Week 5 matchup against Minnesota. He likely needs to practice in a limited fashion at least once to play in Sunday’s contest.”
A Total Game Wrecker against Minnesota
Last weekend — and in Week 2 against the Atlanta Falcons — defenses teed off on Carson Wentz and J.J. McCarthy, mainly because injuries have rattled Minnesota’s trenches.
First, Christian Darrisaw wasn’t available for the first two games, recovering from a torn ACL that he suffered in October 2024. Then, when Darrisaw returned, players like center Ryan Kelly and right tackle Brian O’Neill began to succumb to injury.
Regardless, the Vikings haven’t quite faced a future Hall of Famer like Myles Garrett yet, aside from Steelers’ pass rusher T.J. Watt. Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals is somewhat close, but Garrett takes the cake.
A game against Cleveland with Garrett is vastly different than one without for Minnesota.
Garrett’s Replacement if Applicable?
If Garrett can’t play this weekend — he probably will — Minnesota would face Cameron Thomas in his stead, a 3rd-Rounder from the 2022 NFL Draft. Thomas has logged 4.5 sacks in four seasons, a stat line that Garret has actually logged in a single game.
Shifting from Garrett to Thomas, if needed, is like the Vikings inserting Tai Felton in Justin Jefferson’s place.
Garrett is a game-changer, and Thomas is not.
SI.com on the Garrett Situation
Joe Nelson at SI.com opined on the Browns’ defense in light of Garrett’s DNP: “Without Garrett, the Browns have solid defensive players, but no one really knows whether those players are a product of all the attention Garrett commands.”
“Behind Garrett’s 22 pressures, the Browns’ next-best pass rushers are Maliek Collins (13 pressures) and Isaiah McGuire (11 pressures). No one else has more than seven pressures. Behind Garrett’s five sacks, only one Browns defender has more than one (Collins with two).”
Minnesota is favored to defeat Cleveland by three or four points.
“Garrett leads all NFL defensive linemen and linebackers with a 34.7% pass rush win rate, according to Pro Football Focus. Collins is No. 2 on the team with a 21.5% win rate. Collins is the highest-graded defensive tackle in the league by PFF, and Cleveland also has two linebackers in PFF’s top eight through four weeks,” Nelson added.
“Can they do what they’ve done without Garrett on the field? If Garrett doesn’t play or is less than 100%, the Browns may need a miracle to beat a Minnesota team that arrived in London on Monday and will have the advantage of facing a rookie quarterback making his first career start while playing without two of the top-three wide receivers on the team.”
With Garrett, Cleveland’s defense ranks ninth in the NFL per EPA/Play.
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