![\"Defensive](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2166226315-e1776873164362.jpg\")
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Defensive end Myles Garrett #95 of the Cleveland Browns <\/p>\n
The Cleveland Browns<\/a> continue to insist that all is well with star pass rusher Myles Garrett<\/a>, the franchise cornerstone who set the single-season NFL<\/a> sack record last year and has popped up in the news cycle a few times since. He was at the Winter Olympics in Cortina with his girlfriend, gold-medal snowboarder Chloe Kim<\/a>, and again with her this week at the premiere of the movie, \u201cMichael.\u201d He popped up at the Cavaliers\u2019 playoff opener, too, a win over the Raptors<\/a>. And Garrett came up in NFL news when ESPN reported that his camp and the Browns had agreed to a contract adjustment that pushes back some bonus option dates.<\/p>\n The one place where Garrett has not been seen this offseason is in Barea, the Browns\u2019 team headquarters. While that\u2019s not entirely unusual\u2013a player of Garrett\u2019s caliber often does not show up at voluntary offseason workouts\u2013there are unusual circumstances here. Mostly, it\u2019s the fact that the Browns have a new head coach, Todd Monken, as well as a new defensive coordinator, Mike Rutenberg.<\/p>\n Despite that, Garrett has not come into the building to get acquainted with the new regime is a bit odd. But on Tuesday, we learned that it got even odder still: Monken has not yet actually spoken with Garrett.<\/p>\n Browns Todd Monken Has Texted Myles Garrett<\/p>\n There have been texts, Monken said. But a text-only relationship is more suitable for a work acquaintance or a relative you want to keep at arm\u2019s length. It\u2019s not exactly what you\u2019d expect for a new coach and his best player, and that\u2019s a concern for the Browns.<\/p>\n Last week, when the Browns opened the first day of their offseason program, Monken downplayed the fact that Garrett was not present. But he added this week, \u201cMyles and I have communicated by text, but I have not spoken to him in person. I can\u2019t speak for (Rutenberg).\u201d<\/p>\n Todd Monken: \u2018This Is Voluntary\u2019<\/p>\n Monken went on to explain that, while he is not panicking over Garrett\u2019s absence, he\u2019d prefer it if he were present. Same goes with other Browns veterans who were not on hand, like Jerry Jeudy<\/a> and Denzel Ward<\/a>. The more he talked about the absences, the more annoyed Monken sounded\u2013though, again, he was not overreacting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been a lot. It\u2019s fine. This is voluntary,\u201d Monken said<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re making a big deal out of this. We really are. It\u2019s voluntary. We have other guys besides Myles that aren\u2019t here. I wish they were here. They\u2019ll be ready. We expect them to be ready. And we\u2019ll be fired up when they\u2019re here. \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, they\u2019ve communicated, OK? Doesn\u2019t mean I like the communication, but it\u2019s voluntary. Like I wish they were all here right. I mean, I\u2019ve said that plenty of times. But every one of them is a Brown and we\u2019re excited that they are.\u201d<\/p>\n Browns Myles Garrett Speculation Persists<\/p>\n And that might well be the bigger issue here, certainly for Garrett and potentially for Ward. The move the Browns made on Garrett\u2019s contract was downplayed by the team, but NFL salary-cap gurus pointed out that there would be no reason for the Browns to make the option adjustments they made other than to facilitate a Garrett trade.<\/p>\n The Browns have insisted that\u2019s not happening. But Garrett\u2019s continued cold shoulder to Monken and the organization has an odd feel to it, and there is speculation that if Garrett is not going to seek a trade soon, he could well be after a raise on his contract. Maybe there is no need to panic, but this situation is strange and getting stranger.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Browns\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Defensive end Myles Garrett #95 of the Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns continue to insist that all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-872022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-clevelandbrowns","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116449327045308478","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}