Myles Garrett is the best thing the Cleveland Browns have. As the team around him struggled last season, Garrett claimed NFL history and is making a name for himself as one of the greatest defensive players of this generation.
Still, the idea of him being traded can’t be counted out entirely. If the Browns were desperate enough and saw a way for a Garrett trade to help them turn a corner, they might have to consider it.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Cleveland had restructured Garrett’s contract. This led to immediate speculation that they may be attempting to make his salary more suitable for a trade. But writing for Cleveland.com, Mary Kay Cabot shut down those rumors.
She claims that Garrett isn’t going anywhere, and the Browns wouldn’t need to tweak his contract if he were.
“The Browns and Myles Garrett have agreed to contract modifications that give them cap flexibility, but they have no plans to trade him, a league source tells cleveland.com. The modifications, confirmed by cleveland.com, result in a more team-friendly structure of the contract, which would make him easier to trade, but the Browns have no plans to do so. In fact, if they had wanted to trade him — which they don’t — they wouldn’t have needed to tweak the contract,” Cabot wrote.
Garrett’s contract previously stated that his option bonuses in 2026, 2027, and 2028 were to be exercised by the 15th day of the league year. That was Wednesday. But under the new terms, the date has been moved to seven days before the regular season each year. On top of that, Garrett had $8 million of his base salary in 2029 and 2030, which moved into roster bonuses earlier in each year.
Basically, the Browns made the entire contract a bit easier financially. The team now has more flexibility to create cap space each year, which is key. They can spend more money on acquiring new talent, which benefits them and also Garrett.
Now, many fans are waiting to see what the Browns do with this newfound cap space they receive from the Garrett adjustments.
If the team doesn’t show improvement, trade rumors could pop up again, and it may be Garrett asking to leave.
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