Garrett insists Rudolph used racial slur just before TNF brawl

Myles Garrett continues to insist Mason Rudolph used a racial slur toward him prior to November's infamous Thursday Night Football brawl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.

"He called me the N-word," Garrett said during his first public interview since the incident with ESPN's Mina Kimes. "He called me a 'stupid N-word.'"

Rudolph and Garrett started fighting after the Steelers quarterback took exception to what he felt was a late hit in the dying seconds of the contest. The brawl quickly escalated and resulted in the star defensive end ripping Rudolph's helmet off and bashing him over the head with it.

"When he said (the slur), it kind of sparked something, but I still tried to let it go and still walk away," Garrett said. "But once he came back, it kind of reignited the situation. ... It's definitely not entirely his fault; it's definitely both parties doing something that we shouldn't have been doing."

Garrett was suspended for the remainder of the 2019 campaign but was reinstated Wednesday.

"From what I've heard, there (may) have been audio during that game that could've heard something or could not have heard something but they don’t want to say," Garrett said, according to Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot. "So something was said. I know something was said. Now, whether the NFL wants to acknowledge it, that's up to them.''

"But I don't want to make it a racial thing, honestly," he continued. "It's over with for me, and I'm pretty sure it's over with for Mason, so we just want to move past it and keep on playing football.''

The 24-year-old released a statement following the league's ruling, claiming he heard a slur, but the NFL "found no such evidence" of the allegation.