The Browns have another headache following a lousy season: star defensive end Myles Garrett wants out of Cleveland. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who the Browns drafted with the top pick in 2017, has requested a trade in a statement he sent to media outlets Monday.
Ideastream Public Media's sports commentator Terry Pluto says it’s yet another consequence of the failed 2022 trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“If you're Myles Garrett, you're their premier player, and you're the team's highest paid player, which you should have been," Pluto said. "Then all of a sudden, they bring in Deshaun Watson, who becomes the highest paid player in the NFL. And here he comes in with all this baggage of 20-some civil suits for sexual misconduct. And this is the guy that the Browns decide they're going to make their franchise player with the most money?”
Watson is likely to be out the entire 2025 season after suffering an Achilles injury in October and then re-injuring the tendon in January, requiring a second surgery. He’s played 19 games for the Browns.
Garrett, meanwhile, has been named to six Pro Bowls and has missed only six games in the last five seasons.
Pluto said trading Garrett before the 2025 draft will cost the Browns a “dead cap charge” of $36 million. If they wait until after June 1, the “dead cap charge” drops to $14.8 million.
“Deshaun Watson gets paid $46 million in real money, but on the salary cap he counts $73 million, which is just an outrageous number," Pluto said. "It makes it difficult when the Browns decide to pay these other guys how to fit it in because Watson's taking up probably about 25% of the salary cap."
Above all, the Browns don’t have to grant Garrett’s trade request. He's under contract with the Browns for two more seasons under a five-year, $125 million extension he signed in 2020.
“If they trade him, he has no say in where he goes," Pluto said. "What if they decide, we're going to trade you to Carolina, a terrible team? All he can do is sit out and not get paid. So, he's kind of stuck."
Pluto believes the ultimate goal of the trade request is to put pressure on the Browns in contract negotiations.
“Garrett's agents are the Klutch (Sports Group) run by Rich Paul out of Cleveland," Pluto said. "They're used to the NBA where they can make a lot more demands on teams and everything else. So, they're trying to hardball the Browns here in terms of either get Myles traded or get them a record breaking contract for a defensive end, something. They're just trying to put the pressure on."
Garrett's trade request comes after Browns General Manager Andrew Berry said last week he wouldn't trade Garrett even if a team were to offer two first-round draft picks.
“This is a war of words,” Pluto said. “Then, Andrew Berry also had said at the end of the year that, you know, one of their goals is for Myles to go from Cleveland to Canton, Canton being the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In that statement, where Myles asked to be traded, there's a line in there saying, ‘My goal was never to go from Cleveland to Canton. It was to play in a Super Bowl.’ I just think this is all part of a negotiation dance for a new contract.”
Pluto said he’s seen this before.
“A big one was a few years ago, Lamar Jackson, the star quarterback for Baltimore, was in a big, long, protracted and sometimes even acrimonious contract negotiations with Baltimore," Pluto said. "At one point, Lamar Jackson did indeed ask to be traded. He got his contract eventually and he's still with Baltimore.”
Still, Pluto believes it’s 50/50 whether Myles Garrett is with the Browns next season.
“Teams are going to call, and if you're the Browns, you're thinking, 'Well, we are 3-14,'" Pluto said. "We do need a quarterback. We could use more draft picks because, remember, they gave away six draft picks in the Deshaun Watson deal, including three first rounders. So quietly, you may say, you know, if I could get the right deal for Myles, maybe I'll trade him. That's behind closed doors.”
Ultimately, Pluto believes Garrett remains in Cleveland.
“I just think he ends up signing a really big contract here and staying," Pluto said. "But the thing that fans need to keep in mind, Myles really, other than putting out the statement and trying to put some public pressure on the Browns, has no leverage.”
