The talk might not be out in the open this year, but those who cover the Browns still think a Myles Garrett trade is possible. Maybe even more possible this year than last year. A year ago, Cleveland made very clear it by no means would trade Garrett, despite his request. This year, he isn’t requesting a trade out loud, but the two agreed to an adjusted contract. The only benefit to which, for either side, is that it helps facilitate a potential trade.
“I absolutely believe this restructure was to give them the flexibility to do so. One question no one has really answered: Why did Myles [Garrett] agree to this?”, Jason Lloyd of The Athletic said regarding the Browns’ contract adjustment. “I don’t think Myles is living paycheck to paycheck, but what’s in it for him to delay payment from March until September?”.
“It’s pretty obvious that the payment delay keeps the door open” to the Browns being able to trade Garrett, Zac Jackson responded. “Perhaps both sides agreed that going public last time didn’t benefit anyone. Maybe some all-in team told the Browns that a true Godfather offer was in the works. Maybe — I guess — the Browns just really don’t know how the next two to five months will go and wanted to keep all options open, and Garrett was willing to communicate and cooperate just in case”.
And maybe they saw some inspiration from around the league. When the Cowboys traded Micah Parsons, perhaps the Browns thought about what they could get for Myles Garrett. And now he’s coming off a record-breaking year with his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year Award. Meanwhile, Cleveland doesn’t appear any closer to winning much than they were a year ago. And they even managed to lose their defensive coordinator while botching their head coach search.
While both Lloyd and Jackson agree that it’s more likely than not that the Browns will not trade Myles Garrett, they both very much see it as being on the table, regardless of what the team might be saying about the situation. Once again, they have denied any interest in trading him. Yet they also offered no explanation for why they adjusted his contract, which shouldn’t be hard to do.
Meanwhile, Myles Garrett isn’t attending voluntary offseason events, not that that means the Browns are on the verge of trading him. New head coach or not, that’s part for the course for Garrett. Despite Cleveland’s desire for him to be a leader, he rarely participates in non-mandatory activities. Not that the Browns give him a whole lot of incentive to want to lead such a bad franchise, to be fair.