CANTON — Before Myles Garrett ever played a snap in the NFL, the Browns defensive end made it known he didn't want to step foot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame unless he were to earn induction.

The long-standing goal came to the forefront Wednesday with the Browns touring the Hall of Fame as a team during mandatory minicamp.

After the Browns held a brief practice at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, coach Kevin Stefanski declined to say whether Garrett would visit the Hall.

But a person familiar with the situation said Garrett did not join the tour, keeping intact a personal policy he set years ago.

In July 2017, Garrett told the Beacon Journal he didn't want to step foot into the Hall unless he had his own bronze bust in it.

"I'd like to be in it," Garrett said as a rookie five years ago. "That's going to take a lot of work. It's kind of strange. I don't want to see [the Hall]. I want to see it if I'm able to achieve my goal. It's kind of like a test to me. You don't deserve to go there unless you're good enough to be in it. I want to see the greatness that's come before me, but I also want to be a part of it.

"I don't feel like I'm worthy to be able to go in there and see guys who played 10, 12, 15, 20 years and gave their all to the game. I haven't even played my first game yet. So once I get a taste and maybe feel like I deserve to even walk among those guys, then that's different. I deserve to be among the pros, but the real greats of the game who laid the groundwork and the foundation, that's something different."

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Garrett, 26, revisited his strategy last week when he hosted a community event at a movie theater in Valley View.

“Honestly, I don’t want to go [to the Hall],” he said Friday. “I’ve kept myself from going because I don’t want to go until I’m in it. Until I have my face in it, I don't want to go. If we go as a team and Kevin [Stefanski] says, 'I want you to go,' that's fair play. But I'm not trying to go until they have me in there for good.”

Stefanski said Wednesday he understood Garrett's feelings.

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The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2017, Garrett is on a Hall of Fame trajectory.

"It’s one of his motivations," Browns four-time Pro Bowl left guard Joel Bitonio said Wednesday. "I think we all know he’s one of the best pass rushers in the NFL, one of the best defensive players, and a lot of the Hall of Fame is longevity, though. How long can you do it? I think it’s just one of his goals, and that’s something special about him. He works hard at it. He wants to be the best, and he wants to be around the best. He wants to be noticed as the best and everybody kind of has those different motivations and that’s one for him."

Through five professional seasons, Garrett has two first-team All-Pro and three Pro Bowl selections on his resume. In 68 regular-season games, he has compiled 58½ sacks, including a career-high 16 in 2021.

“If you play this game, you want to be the best at it, and if you don't have that mindset, then you're not going to last very long in this league,” Browns linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said. “For [Garrett] to set them goals, I expect nothing else from him. I mean, it's kind of early right now, but I say he's a shoo-in [for the Hall]. We'll see.”

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A first-team All-Pro pick last season, Bitonio has received Hall of Fame shout-outs from former teammate Joe Thomas, a 10-time Pro Bowl left tackle, former Cleveland offensive line coach Bob Wylie and General Manager Andrew Berry.

Yet Bitonio hasn't been as bold as Garrett about the goal to become immortalized in Canton.

“There's so many great players in the NFL that you've just got to play the game and really see what happens,” Bitonio said after the team's second practice of its three-day mandatory minicamp. “There's so much that goes into it. You can have the credentials. It's a vote at the end of the day. For me, it's just pushing myself to be the best player I can be, and then at the end of the career, we'll see what happens.”

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Bitonio didn't avoid the team's tour of the Hall. He visited the museum in 2014 during the NFL Rookie Symposium, which the league replaced in 2016 with a different transition program. Garrett entered the professional ranks the next year.

“I was there before, so I don't have that superstition [about entering the Hall],” Bitonio said. “It's such a history of the game — you can almost use it to motivate yourself.

“Myles might not need that motivation, but you see some of the best players to ever play and guys that have built this game. So it's a pretty cool place.”

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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Myles Garrett can chase goal to avoid Hall of Fame until he makes it