Myles Garrett hinted a trade request could be on the table if he does not receive the kind of answers he likes regarding the Browns’ long-term plan. The Browns continue to speak out against any deal involving the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year.
Andrew Berry said earlier this month he expected Garrett to retire as a member of the Browns. The sixth-year Cleveland GM, who held another front office post when Garrett was drafted in 2017, doubled down on that stance Tuesday. Berry said (via cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot) Garrett will not be traded, not even for a package involving two first-round picks.
Although two years remain on Garrett’s contract, the likely Hall of Fame-bound talent has outplayed that deal — a five-year, $125MM accord agreed to in 2020. Berry said he is “definitely” open to an extension, Cabot adds. It sounds like the Browns are prepared to do what they have to in order to ensure Garrett sticks around. With T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons and Trey Hendrickson in contract years, Garrett forcing the issue now could make 2025 a transformative offseason on the edge rusher market.
“I don’t want to go into contract discussions. I wouldn’t do that publicly,” Berry said. “But I think you can assume that we do anticipate at some point doing a third contract with Myles. We want him to retire here. We feel really good about Myles obviously as a big piece of our future. We’re looking forward to him being on the field.”
Garrett’s age (29) and desire for a third contract would affect the level of offers the Browns would receive, but Berry being willing to shut down a two-first-rounder proposal — as the team needs some help after a 3-14 season — does say a lot about Cleveland’s Garrett valuation.
Garrett has become one of the best players in team history, and the former No. 1 overall pick is already the top pass rusher in team annals. His 102.5 sacks have shattered the team record — both the official and unofficial marks — and prime years remain for the perennial All-Pro to add to that total. It appears that Cleveland’s QB plan matters not when it comes to Garrett this offseason.
With the Deshaun Watson trade backfiring on a historic level, Garrett mentioned the team’s quarterback problem when asked about his future. The Browns, however, do not need to act here. They have him under contract for two more seasons and could, in an emergency situation, hold a 2027 franchise tag over their superstar rusher if need be. This limits Garrett’s leverage, though withholding services could be a play he turns to if contract talks do not pick up soon.
A Hard Knocks episode captured Garrett indicating some positive communication between he and the team had occurred since his December state-of-the-union-style comments. Regardless of where this relationship stands, the Browns could potentially smooth things over with a monster extension. Timing may be critical on that front, though, as Garrett may want to wait on Watt and Parsons to strike first. Considering the Steelers’ second Watt contract did not occur until just before Week 1 in 2021 and that the Cowboys paid Dak Prescott literally hours before their Week 1 Browns matchup this past season, Garrett might need to wait a while if he wants one of his peers to go first.
Nick Bosa is tied to a $34MM-per-year deal — $6MM north of Watt per year and $9MM above Garrett. This many accomplished edge players in contract years, and with Garrett pushing this to be a de facto contract year, could move this market toward the $40MM-AAV place. That would force decisions from teams, but the Browns do not appear to be considering a future in which their defense lines up without its top disruptor.
Should trade him
Franchise needs an overhaul
The Browns tried an overhaul from 2015-17. Drafted 36 players and they still remained a losing team.
To be fair, they’ve been doing overhauls since 1992 if not earlier. They’ll always remain a losing team lol. 5 winning seasons since ’92…
Lemon- This guy sure would look good in a Bears uniform but the cost would just be too high. They still have too many holes to fill to give up the assets it would take to get this guy. As a FA, it would be cool but in a trade it would just take too much.
Nah, just their front office.
It must get old being the dumbest group of individuals ever to be assembled.
Is it really necessary to have a 40 million dollar guy rushing the passer? If Mahomes, Burrow, Prescott are worth 50+ apiece and the top wide receivers are worth 35+ how can a guy whose only job is to sack the QB be worth 40? Spend that much on one defensive line guy and what’s left for safeties, corners, line backers? Having a great pass rusher is great, but look at Hendrickson and his league leading sack numbers. He looks spectacular, but the defense on a whole was second to last in the league, and the team missed the playoffs. Garrett, Bosa, Watt are a luxury most teams can’t afford.
Is it necessary to have a 40 million guy rushing the passer? Of course not. There also literally are no $40 million a year pass rushers yet, and it’s not terribly close. The cap has been skyrocketing, and they’re going to add an extra game, so the cap will only go up more, so get used to top end salaries getting higher. Garrett is in the top handful of defensive players in the game. Rushing the passer isn’t all he does either. What’s left for those other positions? A lot of money and draft picks. Those other positions are paid less, and there aren’t all that many players at them worth paying huge money anyway.
And it’s not Hendrickson’s fault the rest of the defense was horrendous, and he’s not as good as Garrett.
Didn’t the writer say that Garrett’s next contract would be moving the meter towards 40 million a year? Didn’t pull that number out of my butt
If you have 50+ million QB and two wide outs like Higgins and Chase that’s 100 million right there, add in a 40 million dollar edge rusher and that’s a good chunk of your salary cap space.
Where was I making excuses for Hendrickson? He’s not as good as Garrett? By whose standards? Garrett has help on every play. Hendrickson has subs,scrubs and a cardboard cutout of Rankin’s for help.
By any standard. Hendrickson is very good, but Garrett is better. He’s better against both the run and pass. Hendrickson had more sacks this past year, but if you’re going to focus on sacks, Garrett has 25 more career sacks since the same draft class.
And yeah, the post said “toward” $40 million, but no one has even passed $34 million yet. No one expects Hendrickson to be the first defensive player to hit $40 million a year and no one expects the Bengals to be the first to pay it.
Are we even having the same conversation? The writer said Garrett, not Hendrickson was headed towards 40 million. The Browns owe Dumbshawn for the next 2 years I believe. Meanwhile, they are going to have to sign a passable QB for next year because Dumbshawn keeps injuring himself. A decent QB isn’t cheap so there’s quite a bit of cash, there are at least 5 players on the Browns roster who will want nice raises, and now a pass rusher wants 38 million. How do you justify paying him? Your team is obviously not going anywhere in 2025 so why not trade him and use those draft picks to get 3 or 4 decent players? All those draft picks salaries probably won’t add up to 40 million. Grab a QB in the first round and bring him along slowly because Bailey Zapper or Jameis Winston sure aren’t the long term answer.
I’m sorry I don’t believe any player is worth 40 million a year, much less Hendrickson. The Bengals are loyal, but not that loyal. Don’t know where you got the idea I thought Hendrickson was going to get that much money. My whole point is you have 250 million to play with and your QB, 2 wideouts, and a pass rusher take up 140 of that? 4 guys get over half, and you still have to pay 49 roster guys, 15 on the practice squad and whoever you sign to replace injured players. Which brings me back to my original point which was, a 40 million dollar pass rusher is a luxury, and the Browns could do much better things with that money than spend it on a pass rusher when the team is going to lose 10-12 games next year.
Why did I think you were talking about Hendrickson and the Bengals? Because you said “If you have 50+ million QB and two wide outs like Higgins and Chase that’s 100 million right there, add in a 40 million dollar edge rusher and that’s a good chunk of your salary cap space.”
Meanwhile, the cap is going to be more like $275 million next year. The Browns will have a decent amount of cap space after cutting guys like Conklin. They have needs, but they’re largely at positions that they won’t be able to fill well just by spending money in free agency, like offensive tackle and quarterback.
This is a team that won 11 games and went to the playoffs last year with a combination of Watson and Flacco, in large part because their Garrett-led defense was so good. Keeping star players is much more cost effective than paying big ticket free agents. In this case, they have an opportunity to keep a guy who’s a perennial defensive player of the year candidate and easy Hall of Famer still in his prime. Ditching that guy just to save money isn’t going to cure what ails him. Building a defense around a top of the line player and salary is not a bad strategy. It’s worked well for the Chiefs and Steelers.
As a fan of a team with a rush by committee, I would love to have Garrett, or Maxx, or Parsons. But these star pass rushers are like star QBs. Once you have one, you don’t let him go.
Dats a shame. I would trade multiple firsts for him… speaking as a bills fan.
As a Bills fan, I say no thank you to trading those types of assets. We all know how that story goes with an aging defender on a big contract (Von Miller).
Why… it’s the #30 pick and hopefully #32 next year. Bills need a stud playmaker on defense.
The Bills need to add multiple players on the defense, especially in the secondary, so tying up $40 million of their limited cap space and giving away two top picks makes no sense.
Right. Agreed. Wouldn’t do it for anyone not named Myles Garrett or tj watt. But you get a shot at one of those guys…
Would you rather have had Myles Garrett or Kincaid and Coleman… I do that trade in a heartbeat.
The Bills willingly signed Von Miller to the big contract. Giving a 33 year old with prior injury issues 6 years $120M was all their idea.
Did the Bills acquire Miller when he was 29 and coming off DPOY?
The dude is a freak. 272 pounds and likely more athletic than guys 252 pounds. The Browns need a rebuild, and no matter how good he is now, by the time the Browns are ready, he’ll most likely be on the decline.
They are a quarterback away. We’ve seen multiple teams turn it around in 1 years after getting a quarterback. Cincinnati, Houston, Washington, Denver, all of these teams were bottom dwellers until they got a quarterback
and an OL and another quality receiver and…
That’s a damn shame, because he’s a heck of a player and if he wants to be playing deep in January for a playoff caliber club he’d want to get traded, He’ll have the same career trajectory of that of Joe Thomas who never sniffed the playoffs
Garrett has already played in 3 playoff games and won one. Watt hasn’t won any
Berry saying they aren’t even taking two first round picks translated means that is the starting point. How many day two and three picks?
And this is why the Browns are the Browns. Don’t think you would get two 1’s but you would be able to start a nice rebuild with multiple picks.