Things have gone from bad to much, much worse in Cleveland.
Once again, the offense of the Cleveland Browns led by quarterback Deshaun Watson struggled to do much of anything right, and the defense had to carry the load against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. It wasn’t enough, even with a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown late in the first half, and the Browns lost to the Eagles, 20-16, to fall to 1-5 on the season.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski stated — again — that he’s not considering a QB change from Watson, despite being arguably the worst starting QB in the NFL currently.
For former NFL defensive end Chris Canty, who appeared on ESPN radio’s “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” show Monday morning, maybe the Browns should consider a different roster move then. A rather shocking one, in fact.
Trade Myles Garrett.
“Cleveland Browns. Y’all need to trade Myles Garrett. It’s time. The Browns offense is abysmal. They failed to score a touchdown in yesterday’s loss to the Eagles. They still haven’t scored more than 20 points in the game or gained 300 total yards of offense in a game,” Canty said of the Browns and why they need to trade Garrett, according to video via the show’s Twitter page. “…Deshaun Watson was awful again. What’s new? The offense has let go of the rope, and I fear that the defense won’t be far behind if that offense doesn’t get markedly better. And based on what Kevin Stefanski said about staying with quarterback Deshaun Watson, there is no hope that the offense is going to be improved anytime soon. I mean, yesterday you saw a huge play by Myles Garrett with the blocked field goal that led to Rodney McLeod Jr. returning it for a touchdown. The defense has to do everything for that team, and that’s clearly not something that’s going to be sustainable, let alone allow them to have something tangible in the way of wins this season.
“So if you’re the Cleveland Browns, in order to get to the point where you could have sustained success, you are gonna be forced to move on from Myles Garrett, one of the best players your franchise has ever had. The reigning Defensive Player of the year. I hate to suggest it, but the only way for this team to get better is by tearing it all down and starting from scratch.”
Well then.
Things are going very, very poorly on the shores of Lake Erie, and it’s seemingly all the Browns’ doing.
If the Browns were to try and start from scratch, they wouldn’t be able to move on from Watson, thanks to the albatross $230 million guaranteed contract they handed out to him just to ensure he would pick them in trade talks with the Houston Texans. The Browns have restructured that contract numerous times to create cap space, and in the process it has created a $72,935,000 cap hit for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
Cutting Watson pre-June 1 would carry a $172,734,000 dead cap charge for the Browns, and post-June 1 would still be $99,799,000. Trading him would lessen the blow, but what team is going to see how Watson has played the last few years and see what he’s still owed on his contract and trade for him, not only from a financial and on-field aspect, but from a Public Relations aspect, too?
Nobody. The Browns are stuck with him.
That’s why Canty has shifted his attention to Garrett.
Putting Garrett on the trade block would be quite a rebuilding chip. He’s still just 28 years old and remains a tour de force off the edge as the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year. This season, Garrett has 26 pressures on the season and 4 sacks. He remains one of the best defensive players in football, and his blocked field goal against the Eagles was rather impressive as he leaped over the line and blocked the kick, leading to the touchdown.
If the Browns were to hypothetically move on from Garrett, that would send shockwaves through the organization, the AFC North, and the NFL in general. He’d fetch quite a package, too, but the Browns would be much worse off without the Hall of Fame caliber player.
It seems very unlikely the Browns would even entertain the idea of trading their franchise player and icon. But this is the bed the Browns have made, and the noise is only going to get worse as the franchise is in a nosedive, especially with being unwilling to make a change at quarterback in-season.
