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If you’re wondering what a guy like Jarvis Landry does for fun in Cleveland—his new home as of April, when the Browns signed the wide receiver to a five-year, $75 million contract—look no further than the local arcade.
“Bro, I been to Chuck E. Cheese’s, like, eight times,” says the 25-year-old man they call Juice. “And it’s packed. Kids running around everywhere. I’m used to going to Chuck E. Cheese’s in Louisiana, and you don’t have to wait to play anything.”
Landry’s not big on waiting. In his first four seasons in the NFL (all with the Miami Dolphins), he’s already gotten his sticky mitts on a league record 400 receptions—and earned three trips to the Pro Bowl along the way. When Cleveland tapped him to bring that productivity to Ohio and help fix a franchise that went 0-16 last year (and 1-15 the year before that), well, he wasn’t very patient then, either.
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At the beginning of this year’s training camp—as captured on the first episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks, and all over Sports Twitter afterward—he ripped into his fellow wide receivers, urging them not to sit out practice reps and to show more heart with a lecture that was as full of passion as it was with the type of four-letter words that would make your grandmama smack you. Watching it will make you want to do something impossible, like lift a Mack truck or climb a skyscraper or play for the Cleveland Browns.
The fact that he’s making those types of impassioned speeches about practice in the first official football days after signing a $75 million contract—and after moving from the beach to extremely not the beach—is telling. Some floated the idea that maybe Landry was hamming it up for the HBO cameras, but consider: This dude managed to get 400 receptions in just four seasons on mostly bad Dolphins teams, with some combination of Ryan Tannehill, Matt Moore, and a largely washed Jay Cutler throwing to him. You don’t get those kinds of numbers in that situation unless you really, really give a damn. Landry does, and that can be hard to hide, even when maybe you should. (During our interview, Landry’s brother interrupts to show him a headline highlighting the previous day’s ESPN story, in which he said Dolphins coach Adam Gase sent him to Cleveland “to die.”)
But it’s the same heart that's helping give Cleveland sports a glimmer of hope in a post-LeBron world. Look no further than his seven receptions and 106 yards in yesterday's tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's not a win, technically—but it certainly feels like one. Now we just wonder whether it's good enough to get Cleveland's newest star to the front of those Chuck E. Cheese's lines.
How did that speech come about?
I'm a firm believer that you can only get better by working hard. And I'm a firm believer that you find greatness when you're tired. You know, "Damm, we gotta go out here again?"—I feel like that's when you find greatness. That's kind of what my message was, minus all the curse words and shit. [laughs]
Did you hear from your mom about that video at all?
Hell, yeah.
What’d she say?
"Boy, why you cursing on TV?"
She should've been proud of you, though—it's a pretty incredible pep talk, no?
She wasn't. I mean, she was, but she wasn't because millions of people saw that. Me just going, "Bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep." I told her, like I'm telling everybody, "Sometimes shit needs to be said." That was one of the moments where, honestly, I was overwhelmed. I always believe that hard work is something that gets you to where you need to be, and I know in football it's not a one-man game. In basketball, LeBron James could win a whole game by himself. [In] football, we need everybody. And when guys aren't practicing or pushing themselves to get better, all the time, it puts strain on other people.
I’m curious if, as a kid, your passion ever got you in trouble.
All the time.
What's the most trouble you ever got in?
I almost got kicked out of school one time. I was a junior in high school. All I remember is [the principal] giving me shit about, like, being late to school or late to class or recess or P.E. I was like, "P.E., bro? Like, what the fuck I need P.E. for? I play football for a living, right? Why do I need P.E.?" And he was kind of…like, thick. So I was like, "You're the one who need to go to P.E." I thought he was busting my balls, so I was busting his balls.
When did you get this sort of, "If you're gonna be great, you gotta go out and get it" type of mentality?
It was instilled in me at an early age. My uncle had passed away, and he was just always on me. I was one of the smaller kids growing up. So I had to fight for everything I wanted, not because I was getting bullied but just because I had to go take that shit.
At what age did you first know you were a cut above, athletically or football-wise?
I would say like 12, 13, maybe a little bit before that. Baseball was my first sport. [I] played basketball, I ran track. But football, I only did it because my uncle wanted me to and my brother did, and I used to watch so much film that, at a young age, I already understood the game. And I think that that's what helped me, the IQ part. And from there, I just started to work hard. Running, lifting weights, catching footballs.
What are some of the challenges to bringing a winning culture to a place like Cleveland?
It's just mindset. Mindset plays a part in everything: in football, life, everything. You change the mindset, you change the culture. Simple.
What does a successful year look like to you?
As a team, winning the Super Bowl. I hate how people say, like, "You shouldn't talk like that" or "You shouldn't say that.” Fuck that. You should. I don't train as hard as I train to make the playoffs or just win one game. Now, mind you, I'm gonna focus on every game. I'm not seeing to the Super Bowl. But my goal is to win the Super Bowl. Every year. What's wrong with saying, "I want to win the Super Bowl"?
Nothing.
Nothing! Nothing should be wrong with it, but like, the media—”You shouldn’t be talking like that, that team went 0-16”—I wasn't part of that. If anybody trains not to win the Super Bowl, they shouldn't be playing this game. It's as simple as that. And, individually, just be the best. I think if I'm not mistaken, it's 156 catches, 1,900 yards, and 24 touchdowns.
What's that?
That's the leading statistic in every category for a receiver.* It's held by three different people, but at the same time, that's my goal… I don't want to be some guy that just puts the jersey on and, "Oh, he played here for three years." When I take that off, put that shit up in the banners.
[*Ed’s Note: The records are: 1,964 receiving yards, Calvin Johnson (2012). 143 receptions, Marvin Harrison (2002). 23 touchdowns, Randy Moss (2007).]
I always think it's funny when people ask you, or when people ask players in general, "Do you think you're the best receiver in the League?" Because it puts you in such a shitty spot.
Right. What am I supposed to say? I respect Antonio Brown. Do I think he's the best? Hell, that dude is badass. Odell is crazy. Julio Jones? For me, I feel like in my career, no one really gives me credit for having the most catches in the first four years. Just things that I've done, whether it was in the slot or on the outside. It got to the point where it's like, recognize that shit. It almost took me saying it, coming from the humble "I feel like I'm one of the best receivers in the league" to me having to be like, "I feel like I'm the most complete receiver." I block, I will play special teams, whatever.
How much of the noise do you hear?
I try to tone it out... You know, you see all kinds of shit, and you see criticism, you see praises, and that's the thing that I've heard about all the time. I never want to get caught up in praises. Never want to get caught up in people telling me how good I am.
You think that's more toxic than criticism?
That's more toxic. Because at some point in your career, you're going to get a lot more praise than you will criticism. The great ones really get criticized about everything. Like LeBron—I'm not comparing myself to LeBron—but for anything, if they lose the game, it's LeBron's fault. If he took the last shot and he missed—it just gets high criticism. But at the same time, could you imagine how many people that just truly love him and love what he's doing and tell him everyday, "Bro, you're the greatest shit since sliced bread"? And sometimes that's easy to get caught up into, and then you start feeling yourself and you start becoming something that you're not.
...Some things fuel me that I see. A lot of times it's where I see a guy that I respect, if he does or says some criticizing stuff, I'm not answering it [by] talking back to him, but I want to find a way to answer it with my game. So a lot of the talk before I got paid was "He's a slot receiver.” And going into my final year at Miami, I wanted to show people that no, I can do everything. No matter where you put me on the field, I'm going to make shit happen. I ended up getting paid, but that probably was like the one thing that I took to heart: "He's a slot receiver, he doesn't deserve to get paid like a number one receiver."
When you see something like that headline your brother just showed you about your time in Miami, what’s your reaction to that?
Well, it's funny and it's frustrating. I think that throughout this whole process of moving to Miami, everybody created this narrative that I hated Coach Gase, or that I hated Miami. That's not the case. Just like anybody has differences at their workplace, it won't always be good. And I just hate how that has been portrayed. And, to a degree, I don't even want to answer any Miami questions. Because no matter what I say, people are going to write what they want to write, or when a writer reads what somebody else wrote, they’ll find that one little piece and say, "Oh, he said this." You missed the other ten thousand words.
I don't like that negative shit. Even in the story that came out of it—I called ESPN and I told them I enjoyed Miami, I enjoyed Coach Gase, I enjoyed the relationship. I don't hate this man. I got 400 catches, and I think I got like 230, 220-something with him. He helped me, if anything. Could any receiver feel like they could run more routes? Yes. So because I said, "I feel like I could run more routes," I’m saying he's not doing his job? That’s bullshit. I hate how that has been portrayed in the media.
As a man, I just want to talk to him and be like, yo, I'm grateful for Miami—this place drafted me. I’ve been here four years, I started my family here. I have a home here, I want to retire here. I think everybody that I've talked to just wanted a story… I don't know, that type of stuff just make me want to stay out of media and stop doing interviews, like some Marshawn Lynch shit.
When someone like Jalen Ramsey says all the stuff he did, do you guys hear about that?
For one, that’s his personality. And I think guys know that about him and respect that about him. He backs it up. I think I heard somebody say, "He talks the talk, he walk the walk." And he said it this year, and he's gotta play against all those teams, so we're gonna find out. He better walk the walk. If he don't, now it's like, shut up and don't be talking. But if he do, he just immortalized himself—”I talked this shit, but I walked this shit.” Who doesn't want that?
What do you think is the biggest misconception about you? What do you think people get wrong?
Kind of what we were talking about earlier: They take my passions for something that it's not.
How would you try to reframe that so they would understand better?
I’m trying to find growth in every area of my life, as a player, as a person, as a father… Sometimes my heart is just full, bro. Stuff needs to be said, and it's not so much of an attack, but it's [just that] I need to get it out. If I hold on to it, I don’t want to say there’s a sense of resentment or some big issues—I just rather you know and we work past it than me holding on to something, or you holding on something, and we’re mad at each other and not talking to each other but we work together.
What have you learned about yourself since being a dad?
Not taking anything for granted. It puts everything into perspective. She really slowed things down for me. If it gets hectic kinda at work with everything going on, when I’m with her, everything just slows down and I get a chance to just be daddy.
What is something that "daddy" does that Jarvis Landry the football player would be like, "Damn, you do that?”
Probably like some Barney shit. Or Paw Patrol. I know all the songs and shit. I know all the songs in Moana. That's probably what Juice would be upset with.
Can you articulate what it felt like to sign that contract this offseason? I know you came from a pretty humble background, and you basically changed the trajectory of your family.
I can't even put into words. I was able to get my mom a house, get her out of the situation that we were in, but a part of it still hasn't really hit me yet. Just to be able to say, "Oh, I want that" and get it is enough for me. But like, I love what I do so much that I don't ever care. Obviously, I care that we've come out of the situation and made it past that and our kids won't have to live like that, and the grandkids won't have to live like that.
Are there times when it does hit you?
Every day I walk to the mailbox and get the mail out, and I turn back and I'm just like, “Wow. You lived in a three-bedroom trailer, double wide, A/C cut off, gotta put A/C in the window.” When I'm at the mailbox and I turn around, and now I got a home that's stable, that's bigger than I could ever dreamed of being in. A yard. You know, even just those little things—that's when sometimes it hits me.
This interview has been edited and condensed.