The Cleveland Browns love themselves some Myles Garrett. And at least outside of a helmet-swatting incident and the ensuing fallout, they should. Anybody who has watched him play and would attempt to deny his talent is being only disingenuous, as he is clearly one of the elite young talents among edge defenders in the NFL today.
Over the course of the past week or so, the 2017 first-overall pick was one of about half or so of the players from that round for whom the teams who own their rights picked up their fifth-year option, which is for the 2021 season.
The Browns, however, reportedly want to get a long-term deal done with Garrett as he heads into year four, in 2020. It’s pretty rare for first-round picks to get new deals ahead of their option year—even the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t done that before—but it’s not necessarily unique.
“We do see Myles as a long-term member and pillar in our organization”, new general manager Andrew Berry said recently, according to Cleveland.com. “Great player, great person. Obviously, he did make a mistake last year that he’s learned from. But our confidence in and faith in Myles has not wavered and we’re looking to seeing what he does this year and certainly for years to come”.
The author of the article in question writes that “they’ll likely try to extend Garrett’s contract as soon as they can”, which is a strong indicator that they do not plan to wait until after the 2020 season to negotiate a deal with him.
Garrett was one of three first-round picks for the Browns in 2017. Also selected were tight end David Njoku and safety Jabrill Peppers. The team also picked up Njoku’s fifth-year option, but Berry indicated that they plan to let him play out the 2020 season before deciding on his future. He is coming off an injury-plagued season.
As for Peppers, Cleveland dealt him to the New York Giants last offseason as part of the trade that brought them wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. He was a starting safety for the Giants, and they did pick up his fifth-year option, those rights transferring over to New York through the trade (just as the Pittsburgh Steelers own the fifth-year option rights for Minkah Fitzpatrick).
Through three seasons, and 37 games, Garret has recorded 30.5 sacks in his career so far, with six forced fumbles. He was a Pro Bowler in 2018 and was well on his way to an All-Pro season last year before being handed a six-game suspension for striking Mason Rudolph in the head.
