What if you were playing at the top of your game, but your team still traded you out? That's what happened to former Miami Dolphins star Jarvis Landry, who recently shared his side of the story.
"I did not want to leave from Miami," Landry said on his 4th and South
podcast. "That was a situation with a coach that he just decided that he was going to try to send me to Cleveland and let my career die and be over with. But when we really take a look at it, bro, we was talking numbers of s*** that I had earned."
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Drafted by the team as No. 63 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft, Landry was instantly a hit, racking up 84 receptions for 758 yards in 11 starts as a rookie. The next three seasons saw him get three consecutive Pro Bowl honors. But that was seemingly not enough for him to be the top-paid wide receiver on his team.
"'We got $11 million for you.' Top guy at that time getting paid $15 million … Julio Jones, Odell (Beckham Jr.) had just got paid," Landry said on the Deebo & Joe Podcast in April 2026. We had a guy on our team, Kenny Stills. Kenny Stills was making about $11 million a year. No way y'all see us the same."
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Landry led the NFL in receptions in 2017. But he was still not offered a contract. He was instead franchise-tagged, but was sent to Cleveland in 2018.
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Landry's coach at the time was Adam Gase, who landed his first head coaching post with the Dolphins. Their relationship had been strained, which was seen during the 2017 season
, when they appeared to yell at each other on one occasion.
However, Jarvis Landry had also previously alleged a motive behind sending him to Cleveland. Landry recalled once that there was this joke in the team, that anyone who "got in his doghouse" would either get some teachings from Gase, or they'd be shipped off to the Cleveland Browns.
"I just felt like, for some reason, Adam sent me here to die," Landry told ESPN.
"I used to talk to him about it," Landry told the publication of his efforts to try and help at Miami. "Can I be more of a leader? Can I stay after practice more? I'm trying to literally figure out what I can do to help us win, to help him understand that he could trust me.
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"He wanted me to trust him, but he really didn't want to trust me."
But while Landry thought this move would end his career, his performances told a different story: he won two more Pro Bowl honors in Cleveland. Even Gase had praise for him in September 2019, before his team, the New York Jets, was about to face the Browns.
"Going two years, we had a pretty good run there in Miami. He had a lot of success. He did a good job. There was a lot of positive in our time. I know what kind of damage he can do to a defense. He's steady. He's tough. He's as tough as they come. He's a hard guy to match up with," Gase said.
While Gase had praise for Landry after their bitter relationship in Miami, Landry stuck to his viewpoint and thought that he deserved more respect from the team he had given his all to.
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Landry continued to be in form after the trade, playing four years for the Browns. He last played in the NFL in 2022, with the New Orleans Saints.
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