{"id":912255,"date":"2026-06-07T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/912255\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T08:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:00:22","slug":"denzel-ward-gets-candid-about-his-browns-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/912255\/","title":{"rendered":"Denzel Ward gets candid about his Browns future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You can Ward off any speculation about the Browns dumping another defensive star.<\/p>\n<p>Denzel Ward, the Browns\u2019 new longest-tenured player after Myles Garrett <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/02\/sports\/myles-garrett-waived-no-trade-clause-to-join-los-angeles-rams\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">was traded to the Rams<\/a>, said Saturday that he wants to stay put during the anticipated rebuild.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI definitely still want to be here,\u201d Ward told reporters at his inaugural celebrity softball game. \u201cMyles is a good friend of mine, a great teammate, but things aren\u2019t lost. It\u2019s Ohio against the world. So people could doubt us, but we\u2019re going out there still trying to play our best ball and bring wins to the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ward, 29, is a five-time Pro Bowl cornerback (including the last three seasons) who was the No. 4 pick by the Browns out of Ohio State in 2018. <\/p>\n<p>He is signed through 2027 on a five-year, $100.5 million contract, but none of his remaining salary is guaranteed.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39601847\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2256168043.jpg\" alt=\"Denzel Ward #21 of the Cleveland Browns looks on during the third quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Huntington Bank Field on December 28, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. \" class=\"wp-image-39601847\"  \/>Denzel Ward of the Cleveland Browns looks on during the third quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Huntington Bank Field on December 28, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio.  Diamond Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The Browns <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/05\/sports\/jared-verse-had-one-final-rams-request-after-being-traded-to-browns\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">received two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jared Verse<\/a> as well as three draft picks from the Rams in the Garrett trade. <\/p>\n<p>It was a healthy return that included a win-now piece in the Ohio-born Verse, but the Browns are still in no man\u2019s land at quarterback with Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/25\/sports\/browns-take-another-quarterback-in-taylen-green-in-2026-nfl-draft\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rookie Taylen Green<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrazy trade, definitely a crazy trade,\u201d Ward said. \u201cI believe that either you\u2019re with us or against us, and as you see, he\u2019s not with us. Crazy trade, but hey, that\u2019s the nature of this game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Browns and Ward are on the same page about his future \u2014 even though the Browns could get more draft capital and Ward could finally make a deep playoff run if he were shipped out, too.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66699219;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39601848\" width=\"394\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2279123533.jpg\" alt=\"Myles Garrett of the Los Angeles Rams poses with his jersey during a press conference after an organized team activities workout at Rams Village at the Warner Center on June 2, 2026 in Woodland Hills, California.\" class=\"wp-image-39601848\"  \/>Myles Garrett of the Rams poses with his jersey June 2. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Ward is] a big part of the team, and we like him a lot,\u201d Browns general manager Andrew Berry said after dealing Garrett. \u201cHe\u2019s still playing at a really high level. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn\u2019t change with this transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You can Ward off any speculation about the Browns dumping another defensive star. Denzel Ward, the Browns\u2019 new&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":912256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7345,7,1304,6,9],"class_list":["post-912255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cleveland-browns","tag-browns","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-clevelandbrowns","tag-denzel-ward","tag-football","tag-myles-garrett","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116707775441367512","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912255","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=912255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}