Despite curiously pushing back Myles Garrett’s option bonuses, the Browns adamantly refuse the notion want to trade him. That is according to GM Andrew Berry, who spoke with reporters yesterday in minimal detail regarding the decision. While he said they wouldn’t have done it if they planned to trade Garrett, he declined to explain why. Or how it makes sense.
In fact, the Browns’ decision to push Garrett’s option bonuses back is the reason everybody speculated about them trading him. The move, in theory, makes it easier for them to do so. Contract experts and teams around the league can’t make sense of it. All of them seem to believe this isn’t something you do unless you’re open to trading a player. It otherwise provides little to no tangible benefit, making Berry’s refusal to elaborate notable.
“If we wanted to trade Myles [Garrett], we wouldn’t have needed to make a contract adjustment”, Browns beat writer Daniel Oyefusi quoted Berry as saying yesterday, also noting that he did not explain why they needed to adjust his contract.
Rather than the option bonus being early in the new league year, it now falls just before the regular season. Not just for 2026, but for the remainder of his contract. In other words, it’s not just easier for the Browns to trade Garrett this year, but every year.
“Myles is a career Brown”, Berry insisted in refuting the trade talk, via Oyefusi. “He is one of the faces of our organization. I think we’ve been very clear both past and present in terms of our feelings. I understand all the questions. I’ll be honest, I don’t really want to waste a ton more breath on the topic”.
Myles Garrett broke the single-season sack record last season as the Browns capped off another dismal 5-12 campaign, prior to which he requested a trade. Cleveland fired two-time Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski and then bungled its coaching search so bad its defensive coordinator resigned. It’s been a very Browns-like offseason, so this cryptic contract adjustment for Garrett is seemingly a fixture, not a bug.
Last year, the Browns signed Myles Garrett to a four-year, $160 million contract extension, after which he said he didn’t regret requesting a trade. It very briefly made him the highest-paid defender in history only to be surpassed by four others. Cleveland has already added four void years to his contract through 2034, his contract proper expiring in 2031.
The Browns can deny interest in exploring a Myles Garrett trade all they want, but words are meaningless. Especially when those words follow an action that is often an indication of said interest. Garrett does have a no-trade clause in his contract. But considering Garrett very publicly asked for a trade a little over a year ago, I’m sure he is not opposed to waiving it. As long as it’s not to the Ravens, in the event he has a hangnail or something.
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