Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett yesterday announced his request for a trade, and fans were not happy about it. Not so much about Garrett’s decision, actually, but about the state of the organization that precipitated it. Though there were reports of the All-Pro giving the Browns an ultimatum, to have reached this point still feels shocking.
That must be how the organizers of an impromptu protest felt yesterday, in addition to some loneliness. Apparently, some Browns bloggers and content creators showed up at the stadium to voice their displeasure over the Myles Garrett situation. Unfortunately for them, not many people turned up. According to WKYC, there were more reporters there to cover the story than there were protesters.
Myles Garrett is the most important Browns player of the expansion era, and among the most important ever. Perhaps only Jim Brown and Otto Graham have meant more, though others like Joe Thomas and Clay Matthews certainly register. In terms of the modern era, though, Garrett is the Browns, or at least he will have been.
For their part, the Browns maintain that Garrett’s request for a trade changes nothing. They already said earlier this offseason that they have no interest in entertaining any trade offers, no matter how wild or fanciful. Of course, it’s easy to say that and easy to go back on, as well.
The thing is, trading Garrett would put a hurting on the Browns in more ways than one. Not only would they lose virtually their only good player, his dead money would choke them. Because of previous restructures, he already has a proration charge of $14,758,895 in 2025. If they were to trade him, he would have a dead money charge of $36,216,220 and they would take on a $16,494,100 cap surplus in 2025. They would have to restructure the contracts of other players just to trade him.
It’s a good thing the Browns don’t have an awful franchise quarterback contract to account for—oh wait. Imagine being a three-win team in cap hell. The Browns is the Browns. And that’s why Myles Garrett doesn’t want anything to do with the Browns anymore.
Garrett won the Defensive Player of the Year Award last season and may do so again this year. He is the only player in NFL history to record 14-plus sacks in four consecutive seasons. In eight years with the Browns, Garrett has 102.5 sacks, 116 tackles for loss, and 20 forced fumbles.
Fans like to quibble about which generational talent is marginally better than the other. Suffice it to say that the Browns have a future Hall of Famer in Myles Garrett, and they’re letting him slip away. While they don’t have to trade him, he also doesn’t have to play ball. Increasingly in recent years, situations like these tend to resolve themselves in the form of a trade, though not always. Sometimes it ends up little more than a storm in a teacup—like a Browns protest.
