Coronavirus “kicked my butt,” said Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.
The 24-year-old defensive end went into detail at a press conference on Friday after recovering from the virus. In the virtual conference, he spoke about his experience. He had all the classic COVID symptoms… and one I haven’t heard before.
“I lost my smell for almost two weeks, had the body aches, headaches. My eyes were hurting.” Eyes hurting? “Coughing, sneezing, fever. I was in pain. It wasn’t great.”
Garrett says he had to sit on his couch for two weeks to rest and recover before he could start practicing again.
“I tried to get a little weightlifting in but they told me to stay away from weightlifting and cardio because they didn’t know what effects it would be on my heart and my lungs from having corona,” he said.
The Pro Bowler read about Tommy Sweeney, the Bills tight end who had COVID-related myocarditis. Cardiac side effects of COVID, like myocarditis, were Garrett’s primary concern.
“If my lungs are a little bit heavy, if I’m tired or anything happens where I’m a little bit out of breath, I’ll fight through that. But there’s nothing you can do with the heart, you can’t play with that, there’s no getting around it.”
Thankfully, the Browns medical staff said there was nothing unusual about Garrett’s heart or lungs after contracting the virus.
But one thing Garrett is still concerned about is how he got COVID in the first place. His parents had the virus, but not recently. And no one else in his family had it.
“It’s kind of worrisome because I don’t know if I got it here, I don’t know if I got it in the game,” he said. “I try to eat at home. Really not sure whether I got it at the market picking up groceries.”
In total, Garrett missed two weeks of games. He was cleared to practice on Wednesday and got to play in the Tennessee game yesterday.
Still, Garrett is a part of an irritatingly long list of NFL players who have contracted COVID. Fortunately, many players have not had their butts kicked by the virus. But some, like Sweeny and Raquell Armstead, have been sidelined for the season.
With COVID reaching record highs across the country and outbreaks in NFL facilities, Garrett’s story should be a cautionary tale for athletes and everyone else for that matter — anyone can get rocked by this virus.
But leagues will keep playing, NFL will reschedule if necessary, and hope the next COVID case isn’t more serious than an ass-kicking.