Cleveland Browns star DE Myles Garrett opened the offseason issuing a public request for trade. The Browns never gave even the slightest hint of entertaining that request, instead throwing money at him. As it turned out, they didn’t have to, and he even signed a no-trade clause.
That makes him a fraud, Rob Parker of CBS Sports Radio argues. Because the thing is, Garrett didn’t just want a trade, or so he said. In his own statement, he claimed that his driving factor was his desire to win. He said, in so many words, he can’t see the Browns winning any time soon. But now he will spend the next six years there, taking the money and running away from championship aspirations.
“That’s when somebody’s fraudulent. You’ve got to call him a fraud”, Parker said of Garrett. “It’s one thing to say you just want out, you want to be traded. But to say it’s about winning, you always dreamt about winning, and that’s what it was about and never thought about going from [Cleveland to Canton], and then they come along with money for you, and then all of a sudden, all of those words really don’t matter”.
Parker suggested that all the talk from Myles Garrett wanting a trade may have been so much “huffing and puffing” trying to angle for a new contract. The Browns were always likely to give him a new deal, though perhaps he coaxed them into overpaying. Garrett is now by far the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback, signing a four-year, $160 million extension.
And that is terrible business on the Browns’ part to give in to Garrett, Parker argues, and pay him that. But it’s also par for the course, not dissimilar to Browns owner Jimmy Haslam guaranteeing QB Deshaun Watson a full five-year, $230 million contract to agree to come to Cleveland via trade after initially turning down what was already the best offer.
“The Cleveland Browns continue to make bad decisions. It is a terrible decision to [extend Myles Garrett] at this kind of money”, Parker said. “He’s a great player, that isn’t even the issue. The issue is you’re in last place. You can finish in last place with him or without him”.
During the 2023 season, the Browns looked like they turned a corner, going 11-6 and reaching the playoffs, Garrett winning the Defensive Player of the Year. While Garrett had a similarly accomplished season in 2024, the Browns won all of three games. Attempting to argue on the grounds of their losing their starting quarterback doesn’t do much good, considering they went 1-6 with Watson.
Given the developments in Myles Garrett’s push for a trade and how things settled—and settled very quickly—I entirely understand why Rob Parker and surely others are calling him a fraud for signing an extension with the Browns. Optically, it certainly looks like he gave in quickly to take the money and give up on championship aspirations. Unless they somehow magically convinced him that they have a legitimate plan to turn things around, to sign an extension before the new league year even hits shows an incredible lack of fight for someone who truly wishes to depart from a team in order to pursue a championship. It will certainly be interesting to see how he explains his reasoning the first time he talks to the media.
