Myles Garrett made it clear before the end of the regular season that he has no intention of playing through another rebuild in Cleveland. Crucially, Garrett has asked the Browns for a concrete plan at quarterback after their disastrous 2022 trade for Deshaun Watson crippled the offense for much of the last three seasons. On the latest episode of Hard Knocks: In Season With the AFC North, Garrett revealed that he has discussed the Browns’ future with general manager Andrew Berry, who agreed that changes need to be made. The conversation appears to have warmed Garrett to the team’s direction.
“How are we gonna make the most of all the talent that is here?,” Garrett said. “We’re closer than some may think we are.”
Garrett has somewhat of a point. The Browns’ 3-14 record doesn’t reflect the talent of their roster, but it does represent their rudderless quarterback situation. In 2025, defenders like Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome will be back from injuries, while offensive playmakers like Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku can build on solid 2024 seasons.
Watson, meanwhile, re-tore his Achilles and could miss the entire season. The only Browns quarterback under contract in 2025 is former fifth-rounder Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who is 1-4 as a starter with a career passer rating of 45.2 and completion rate of 52.6%. Bailey Zappe will be easy to retain as a restricted free agent, but he is a marginal upgrade on Thompson-Robinson at best.
The Browns will have to convince Garrett (signed through the 2026 season at $25MM per year) that they have a plan under center moving forward. Otherwise, he could demand a trade to facilitate his way out of Cleveland. Here is the latest from the AFC North:
- The Browns are facing a pivotal offseason for another longtime player: running back Nick Chubb. Berry made it clear that the team values Chubb and his contributions to the Browns over the seven years, but admitted that his pending free agency was a “challenging situation,” per Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. Last offseason, when Chubb was under contract and recovering from his season-ending knee injury, the Browns got him to take a pay cut. Chubb is once again rehabbing an injury – this time a broken foot – but it shouldn’t cost him any of the 2025 season. That will give him more leverage in free agency negotiations, whether that be with the Browns or another team. Though, Chubb’s back-to-back injury-marred seasons will not help the former perennial Pro Bowler.
- Two of Cleveland’s young defenders are facing uphill battles to be ready by training camp. Berry is expecting a “months-long” recovery for Michael Hall after his right knee injury, which could involve surgery, per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. The status of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah remains unclear, but Berry “hopes” he can play in 2025, according to Zac Jackson of The Athletic.
- Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is continuing to push his team to re-sign Tee Higgins. “You just can’t let him outside of the building,” he said, per ESPN’s Ben Baby. Burrow has repeatedly told the media that he wants Higgins to stay in Cincinnati, sending a clear message to team decision-makers in the process.
- While the Bengals would have to pony up significant money for Higgins – potentially in the region of $30MM per year – they won’t have to pay at the top of the market to retain offensive lineman Cody Ford. His multi-positional versatility is appreciated by the Bengals’ coaching staff, per The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., but he’s unlikely to command the salary of a starting offensive lineman.
- Despite a career-high nine sacks in 2023 after signing with the Ravens off the street in September, no other team expressed interest in Kyle Van Noy during the 2024 offseason, per Dan Pompei of The Athletic. He re-signed with the Ravens on a two-year, $9MM deal and played through a fractured orbital socket to rank fourth in the NFL with 12.5 sacks. Doctors recommended surgery after the Week 1 injury, but Van Noy refused to miss a single game.
I like Myles, but when did Cleveland not ‘rebuild’ during his time there? Horrible franchise.
I’d love to see Garrett’s reaction if Berry told him “We’re going to solve the QB problem by acquiring your old buddy Mason Rudolph”.
Burrow should be entering the QB phase where he proves he’s a top quarterback by producing more with less, with less meaning less talented receivers. Mahomes has done it, and Allen’s been doing it this season. If Burrow still needs to #1 receiver to be successful than he’s no better than Tua.
I think he’s proven it, but his cap # indicates he BETTER be hitting that phase. Higgins should cash in and a suitable ‘replacement’ lining up opposite J Chase should be available
The problem with the Browns is ALL of their talent is on the defensive side of the ball. They have no salary cap room, and they can’t fix the offensive line, the QB room, AND the receiver room in one draft.
I wouldn’t say the receiver room is bare. Jeudy mostly looked like the guy that the Broncos thought they were drafting, and Cedric Tillman probably fits best as a third receiver but he took a step forward when he was healthy. Njoku also seems to put up good numbers with anyone other than Watson. There’s definitely room for improvement there, but I wouldn’t say it’s a bare cupboard either. Drafting McMillan in the early part of the first round would go a long way, but I think they have bigger needs elsewhere so I’m not sure he’d be their guy anyway.
The line play wasn’t good overall and they probably need two new starting tackles, but the interior is still pretty strong. Their issues were magnified with Watson because he frequently held on to the ball for too long, and Jason Lloyd’s most recent piece in The Athletic said that Watson was frequently dropping back six yards at a time when the linemen were expecting him to drop back eight yards — so he ended up basically running into sacks himself.
Stefanski has shown the ability to get serviceable production out of quarterbacks that better fit his offense, so even though they’re probably at least a year or two from finding a long-term QB because of this year’s draft class and their long term salary cap issues, I think they can at least have a mediocre to average offense next year. I don’t love that being the best case scenario, but it’s where they’re at right now.
You’re not going to find two starting offensive tackles in the draft, and the interior of that line is hardly a strength with Bitonio’s big regression.
I’m a Bengals fan and can’t see giving Tee $30 million a year. He misses time every year. He has played 54% of the offensive plays.
Great scoop Casey. I think Chase makes any WR in the room better just because of how defenses have to scheme for him, so a replacement for much less definitely exists.
Bengals are going to place franchise tag on Higgins again. They either work out a deal for him or they will get a strong return for him in trade. They aren’t going to let him walk for a potential 2026 3rd round compensation pick. The franchise mark for second time would be around $28M.
I loved when they drafted Chubb, but it’s become obvious that he’s not what he used to be. My focus in the draft would be on rebuilding the running game, then taking a QB in a later round. Having a strong running game would help alleviate some of the pressure on a rookie QB. Get Jeanty with your first pick.
They need better offensive line play before ponying up that high of a pick on a RB for the sake of a young or veteran QB to be named. Chubb wants to be back and he’ll be one more year removed from the last injury, albeit a year older too. I think Chubb with a non 1st rounder would be the way to go, especially with better draft value available at RB in rounds 2-4. Jeanty got bottled up in the spotlight against PSU who has a great defense and NFL caliber players on it. Minus the Oregon game in week 2 (he did in fact go off) Boise State played a milquetoast schedule. I’d be wary at Jeanty that high in a QB driven league for any team
If Burrow really, really wants these guys, could he restructure his massive deal to spread the cash out some to his receivers? What he still needs around him is a improved offensive line/ defensive secondary. That is where I would be putting my picks and money into if I were the Bengals.