With Myles Garrett no longer a member of the Cleveland Browns defense, it’s clear that a few other veterans are going to have to assume a larger role in 2026 both on the field and in the locker room. There are more than enough vets in place to take on that responsibility, but it’s certainly no easy task filling in for a guy who racked up 23 sacks last year.
One player who will have a lot of eyes on him heading into camp is veteran safety Grant Delpit, who is heading into Year 7 and is the face of this secondary alongside fellow long-time vet Denzel Ward. With rookie second-round pick Emmanuel McNeil-Warren now in town to help alleviate some of the pressure on Delpit, there are also rumblings that Delpit could be a trade candidate if the season doesn’t go well, as one analyst recently pointed out.
During a recent episode of The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show, Adam Gerstenhaber pointed out the pickle the Browns are in regarding Delpit. He believes if the Browns are bad at the trade deadline, it may be inevitable that Delpit winds up elsewhere.
“You just drafted a safety very high. It’s a tricky spot because you don’t want to just let him walk. It’ll be interesting to see if they end up trading him, especially if they’re bad this year at the trade deadline, which they probably will be,” said Gerstenhaber.
Fellow host Jay Crawford pointed out a similar trade last trade deadline when GM Andrew Berry sent corner Greg Newsome II to the Jacksonville Jaguars for fellow corner Tyson Campbell, who immediately blossomed in Cleveland and now looks like a legitimate building block for the foreseeable future.
Delpit is heading into the final year of a three-year, $36 million deal and is coming off a full 17-game slate in 2025 that saw him collect 89 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception. It was yet another solid year for the 27-year-old, but Crawford is right. If the Browns stink and they have no plans of extending Delpit, that’s exactly the kind of guy you move at the deadline.
However, that is a conversation for another day. If he were going to get traded this offseason, it likely would have happened already. The Browns have a fairly easy schedule in 2026 and have a real path to improvement as long as the quarterback position can get sorted out, so for now, Delpit remains a pivotal part of this secondary.
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