Myles Garrett loves Northeast Ohio so much that he announced on national television he is “willing to do whatever it takes” to make sure he never plays another game for the Browns.
The Browns’ all-time sack leader first made known his desire to be traded to a Super Bowl contender in a social media post on Feb. 3. Then he parlayed his notoriety into a media blitz on radio rows last week in the days leading up to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
Garrett was on a Zoom interview with the ESPN crew during a pregame show ahead of the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 (the Super Bowl was televised by FOX) and again expressed his goal of being traded to a contender.
Browns general manager Andrew Berry is on record saying he won’t trade Garrett. Garrett, 29, has played eight seasons with the Browns. He has made the Pro Bowl six times and was voted the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Just because Berry says he wouldn’t trade Garrett, not even for two first-round draft picks, doesn’t mean he won’t eventually ship him off to another team. But for the Browns, it isn’t as simple as Berry and another team reaching an agreement on Garrett’s trade value. Salary cap ramifications are a factor for the Browns.
Garrett has two years remaining on a five-year, $125 million contract. Through the magic of salary manipulations, restructuring and bonus shuffling, Garrett’s base salary for 2025 is only $1,255,000. But if the Browns trade Garrett before June 1, they get walloped with a salary cap hit of $36.2 million. It would drop to about $14.8 million if they trade him after June 1. The balance of the dead cap hit wouldn’t disappear; the Browns would take a salary cap hit of $21.4 million in 2026.
Tedy Bruschi, part of the ESPN that interviewed Garrett, asked him whether he would be willing to accommodate the Browns contractually if that would facilitate a trade.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” Garrett said. “I want to have a chance to win those big games, to go out there and compete, to elevate a team, as a player, as a teammate, as a leader. And just come in and have an immediate effect.
“Willing to do whatever it takes” can have two meanings: Garrett could be willing to restructure, or it could mean he will sit out to force a trade. Garrett even hinted at the possibility of restructuring when he was on “The Rich Eisen Show” last week. Eisen works for NFL Network and was a media star of Super Bowl week.
“I know, in my position, I don’t have much say on where I go, but hopefully we can leave on good terms and we can find a middle ground between us,” Garrett told Eisen.
The Browns have had two winning seasons in the eight years Garrett has been in Cleveland, most recently in 2023 when they finished 11-6 and made the playoffs. They were hammered, 45-14, by the Texans in a wild-card game and followed that with a 3-14 2024 season.
Garrett has been consistent with his message during his “trade me” crusade. He repeated his mantra in the ESPN interview.
“Speaking with management with the Browns, I just felt like at this current time I don’t feel like our future is aligned with winning right now,” Garrett said. “That’s what I’m looking forward to doing at this stage of my career. I have a lot of love for Northeast Ohio, you know, a community that brought me into the league. But I want to get to a contending team, win playoff games and have a chance to be in games like today.”
