While Myles Garrett has essentially told anybody who will listen that he wants the Cleveland Browns to trade him this offseason so he can pursue a Super Bowl ring, numerous individuals who cover the Browns remain convinced Cleveland will hold onto the disgruntled All-Pro pass-rusher through 2025.
For a mailbag published on Wednesday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated offered his prediction for how the Browns-Garrett saga will end before meaningful games get underway in September.
“I’d say the most likely ending to this story is the Browns and Garrett find some compromise, maybe with an agreement to aggressively build for this year and trade him in 2026 if things don’t work out,” Breer said.
According to Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Browns are willing to make Garrett the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player via a new agreement even though the 29-year-old is under contract through the 2026 season. However, Garrett suggested during Super Bowl week media appearances that he won’t put pen to paper on such a deal because a Browns team that finished the 2024 campaign at 3-14 seemingly isn’t close to competing for anything other than maybe a wild-card playoff berth.
“Finding a fix at quarterback would probably be the first step toward the Cleveland Browns finding a way to hold on to him,” Breer added. “But finding a fix that’ll put the Browns in a place to compete at the top of the AFC won’t be easy, especially since they’re still weighed down by the enormity of the Deshaun Watson contract (two years left!).”
Specifically, multiple stories posted throughout the winter have mentioned that Cleveland could sign a veteran such as Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins to a team-friendly deal in March. Additionally, it appears the Los Angeles Rams could either trade or release one-time Super Bowl champion Matthew Stafford even though a recent report claimed that Stafford will “likely” return to the Rams for another season.
“I wouldn’t think the Browns could afford the salary-cap number they would inherit in a trade,” team insider Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand wrote about Cleveland possibly acquiring Stafford. “At this point, I wouldn’t bother trying to placate Garrett. He doesn’t want to play for the Browns.”
Grossi may be right, but Garrett doesn’t have a ton of options at the moment considering he’s signed through 2026 and realistically could have his rights retained by the Browns beyond the upcoming draft.
Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and others have insisted the Browns aren’t punting on the 2025 season, so it sounds like no resolution regarding this matter is imminent.
