The Cleveland Browns are dealing with trade speculation around Myles Garrett.
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The Cleveland Browns are dealing with trade speculation around Myles Garrett.
The Cleveland Browns have made their intentions stance clear on a trade involving Myles Garrett.
The renewed trade buzz began when the Browns quietly modified Garrett’s contract, shifting the timing of his option bonuses. The change moved Garrett’s $29.2 million roster bonus from March to a week before the start of the regular season, for each of the next three seasons. The numbers made a trade genuinely workable in a way it simply wasn’t before.
Browns GM Andrew Berry addressed the speculation at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix, offering a notable choice of words.
“lf we wanted to trade Myles, we wouldn’t have needed to make a contract adjustment. So it doesn’t have anything to do with that,” Berry said. “Myles is a career Brown. He is one of the faces of our organization. I think we’ve been very clear both past and present.”
Garrett demanded a trade last offseason and the Browns swiftly shut it down. Berry said then that he wanted Garrett to go “from Cleveland to Canton.”
Browns Maintain Firm Stance on Myles Garrett’s Future
ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed earlier this week that Garrett was not on the table via trade, despite the contract move.
“Let me say this — right away, I called the Browns. They said they are 100% definitely not trading Myles Garrett,” Schefter said on the Pat McAfee Show. “They were adamant about it. They said don’t even bring it up to dignify it. We are not trading him.”
Schefter acknowledged, though, that the contract move undeniably made a trade easier — and that the speculation isn’t going away regardless of what Cleveland says publicly.
“All I can say is that the Browns were adamant to me that they are not trading Myles Garrett and this move was not done to move Myles Garrett. It was for cap flexibility,” Schefter said. “They couldn’t have been stronger about it. But, that’s not going to discourage other people from wondering and speculating if he could be traded.”
NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo echoed the denial on Good Morning Football, reporting that the Browns are “adamant” the trade rumors have “nothing to do with the motivation for what they did in his contract.” But Garafolo left his own door cracked open.
“It was not on the table last year. It is not on the table again this year,” Garafolo said on NFL Network. “The Browns are saying they’re not gonna trade him, and they’ve promised us that we’re not gonna look dumb if we say that. So we’ll see.”
Browns Star Myles Garrett Has a No-Trade Clause
Even if the Browns reversed course, the decision wouldn’t be entirely theirs. Garrett holds a full no-trade clause in his four-year, $160 million deal, meaning he would have to sign off on any deal.
There’s reason to believe he’d want out. Garrett has not publicly championed the Browns’ direction under new head coach Todd Monken. In addition, his defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz, departed after being passed over for the head coaching job — a move that didn’t sit well. Garrett posted a cryptic message when Schwartz left.
Reports this offseason also suggested the Browns hadn’t been in regular contact with Garrett. However, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com pushed back on that characterization.
“Rumors that the Browns have had little or no contact with Garrett since the end of the season are untrue,” Cabot said.
If the Browns were to pivot and trade Garrett, the return would be massive. Some analysts believe a deal could net Cleveland as many as three first-round picks, along with a premium player in return.