Myles Garrett made himself the story this offseason after publicly requesting a trade from the Browns. Soon after, he signed a record-breaking contract as well as a no-trade clause. Given that his stated motivation for requesting a trade was a desire to win, many questioned his motivations. Since then, he has only spoken once, during a press conference on his new extension.
The primary emphasis for the Browns’ future is the quarterback position, and Myles Garrett only has so much control there. He wanted to know their plans for building a winning team, but he didn’t offer much publicly. Asked what their plans are for their top draft pick, he only said, “Next question”. Otherwise, he deferred to GM Andrew Berry. Multiple times, he said he would be “leaning on” Berry and his expertise—which, of course, he has to, since he’s a player.
“Just leaning on AB and his expertise and knowing that he has a plan on what this team and this offense will look like going forward and he’s going to put the best offense possible out there”, Garrett said of the Browns’ vision for the quarterback position. “He’s going to get a QB that we all continue to have faith in and we’re going to go out and do our thing on defense”.
Around the time of the press conference, the Browns hosted Russell Wilson, and Garrett acknowledged having some involvement in that. Since then, however, they have made no drastic moves, acquiring Kenny Pickett via trade along the way. Of course, they still hold the second pick in the draft.
The long and short of it is Garret won’t say what kind of reassurances the Browns offered him. That’s not a surprise, of course, and there is no reason that he would, or should. Giving away a team’s strategy, especially in the draft, is actually pretty terrible business. But it does make it more difficult to accept Garrett’s premise that he wasn’t motivated by money. How are we to believe that he truly believes the Browns are in striking distance of relevance?
“I do understand what he’s building and we’ve had multiple conversations about that and I just know that I’m going to do my part to get everyone in line and on board with that goal and that message”, Garrett said of the Browns’ vision for building a competitive team.
As good as Myles Garrett may be, the Browns have lost plenty of games with him. That is the primary criticism many had for the deal Cleveland gave him, and it’s understandable, given their record. But if they could hit on a quarterback after swinging big and missing bigger on Deshaun Watson, it’s not unreasonable to believe they could be a competitive team in a relatively short window. The only question is whether that is even a possibility for this offseason.
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