The Cleveland Browns have plenty of things to figure out, especially regarding their offense.
Fortunately, that’s not the case on the other side of the ball.
Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports recently gave one reason for optimism for every NFL team, and for the Browns, he chose Myles Garrett’s contract extension.
“Myles Garrett is still in Cleveland,” Sullivan wrote. “It’s been a topsy-turvy offseason for the Cleveland Browns. While their quarterback situation will need to be sorted out with five signal-callers on the depth chart, one person they don’t need to worry about any longer is Myles Garrett. Despite a trade request, Garrett and the Browns were able to reconcile with a monster four-year, $160 million extension. With Garrett intact, the floor for Cleveland’s defense remains high entering 2025.”
There was a case to be made for the Browns to trade Garrett.
Of course, financial relief wasn’t necessarily an incentive because of the salary cap charges, but the Browns could’ve gotten a stellar package in return.
Also, with talk about his possible lack of leadership, some fans even urged the team to move on from him.
Nevertheless, there’s no way any team would be better without Garrett.
He is a disruptive force at the line of scrimmage and arguably the best pass rusher in the game.
He can’t win on his own, and he needs the offense to keep the chains moving, but Garrett makes the Browns’ defense a force to be reckoned with, almost single-handedly.
Now, he will join forces with another potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate in rookie tackle Mason Graham.
They could become the most dominant one-two punch in the NFL, and that wouldn’t have been possible if they had granted his trade request.
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