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Asking questions about Myles Garrett-Cleveland Browns trade standoff | Chris Easterling
- Story by
- Asking questions about Myles Garrett-Cleveland Browns trade standoff | Chris Easterling
Myles Garrett completely changed the offseason conversation concerning the Browns around lunchtime on Monday. That's when the All-Pro defensive end made public his demand that he be traded.
The more than 30 hours of discourse since that pronouncement has run the gamut. Everyone has an opinion, as would be expected when a player of Garrett's stature makes his feelings known .
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Which leads to this piece. Since Garrett's request, there's been a number of thoughts circulating about not just the demand itself, but the various tentacles that have extended from it as it's been chewed on over and over again.
It's not just thoughts about whether a trade now is the right move, or what's the right deal . It's about the dominos that fall in either direction the Browns ultimately go.
Anyway, enough with the long-winded wind-up. It's time to walk through the various thoughts on the Myles Garrett -Browns standoff.
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (95) walks off the field after a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 20, 2024, in Cleveland.
A Myles Garrett trade is the Cleveland Browns ' fastest path to a return to the playoffs
The Browns roster isn't devoid of talent. It's just devoid of the depth of young, in-their-prime talent necessary to make them a consistent contender in an AFC that is as deep as ever with teams in their prime.
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How do you get that talent? You draft it, typically within the first 100 picks of the draft.
Garrett, even at 29, still is worth the kind of draft capital to goose such an influx of youth. Or, in lieu of a pick or two, a young player (or two) still with years of team control on a rookie deal.
The 2022 Browns had the second-youngest roster in the NFL. Three years later, they aged in dog years to become tied for the seventh-oldest opening-day roster.
Dealing your one-of-one edge rusher can help lower that number, and not just because of his own age. There's always the collateral effects of leading other players either into retirement ( Joel Bitonio ) or their own trade demands ( Denzel Ward ).
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Can the Cleveland Browns maximize the draft picks they would get for Myles Garrett?
Andrew Berry's made two first-round picks since becoming general manager in 2020. One ( Jedrick Wills ) appears to be heading out the door in free agency, and the other ( Greg Newsome II ) has been a constant topic of trade rumors for three years now.
Berry's already under pressure to nail the Browns' return to the first round in April with the No. 2 overall pick, in addition to the first pick of the second round and two third-round picks. Now throw on even more pressure to, first, get enough draft capital back for a generational talent before then turning those picks into legitimately good NFL players.
The track record is, well, questionable on the question of Berry's drafting. The top talent on these Browns teams over the last five years, including Garrett, has mostly been acquired by previous general managers.
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The one thing for which Berry has drawn accolades is his ability — thanks to Jimmy and Dee Haslam's financial backing — to manipulate the salary cap. This, however, may be one thing that proves too much for even his understanding of the cap and the Haslams' deep pockets.
Do the salary cap ramifications make trading Myles Garrett untenable for Cleveland Browns?
Garrett is on the 2025 salary cap at the cost of $19.722 million. Of course, if everyone can make nice and an extension gets worked out, that number would certainly get reworked to be smaller.
Since nobody believes Garrett's trade request, which took an extremely targeted shot at Berry with the "Cleveland to Canton" line, isn't 100% the way he feels, there are the cap consequences to be sorted through before the Browns can pull the trigger. They're already carrying other cap albatrosses, but at least there's a way to assuage some of the damage of the Deshaun Watson financial hit by another restructuring.
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There's no way to trade Garrett and not have that dead money, all $36.2 million of it, just torpedo the cap. Even an expected jump in the overall cap doesn't prevent that figure from sitting with the Browns like extreme heartburn from a bad meal.
The Browns could wait until after June 1 to trade Garrett, which would spread the cap hit out over what would've been the final two years of the contract. It would be a hit of $14.8 million this year and $25 million next year.
No one thinks a deal made this offseason wouldn't occur before that date. If one isn't, would the Browns bite the bullet and at least try to hold out on a trade until some point in training camp, or even until the trade deadline?
Or, is there another question to ask?
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Can the Cleveland Browns make this work out with Myles Garrett?
This is the question that only the two parties involve can really answer. The Browns continue to stand by Berry's stance that they have no intention of trading the future Hall of Famer, while Garrett wouldn't go public with this if it wasn't his wish to be dealt to a winner.
Still, is there a pathway to a detente between the team and Garrett? Or are the Browns ultimately going to be painted even more into a corner by their star defensive end and any leverage, which is legitimate, they may possess goes out the window?
There's always the matter of a contract extension for Garrett that re-sets the market — even if only temporarily — for defensive linemen and pass rushers. However, he's also made clear multiple times that his goal is to win and win big, the same way all of the other great pass rushers in the NFL's history ultimately did.
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Garrett is someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. He's arguably the most unique individual in the NFL, both in his talents and who he is as a person.
If there ever was a player who would simply walk off to take part in an archeological dig instead of continuing to play for an organization that has no clear path to the Super Bowl, it's Garrett. If there ever was an organization that would watch arguably the second-greatest player in their history refuse to play for a whole season simply on the principle that he sees no immediate success in their future, it's the Browns.
So the staredown continues between the football team that plays in Cleveland and its star player who'll someday end up in Canton. And the opinions and thoughts will continue to pile up as everyone else stands by waiting for some kind of resolution.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Myles Garrett-Browns trade standoff: Sorting through the questions
