The Cleveland Browns, once again, find themselves in the middle of several difficult circumstances.
Deshaun Watson, the quarterback they signed to a fully guaranteed deal, might not start for them at all in 2025, and their best defender, Myles Garrett, has officially requested a trade.
Both of these situations bring their own unique set of challenges, and at this time, the front office has been adamant that they aren’t ready to give up on Garrett.
Garrett seems like he’s completely out on returning to the Browns, according to what he’s publically said, making this a one-sided breakup, in a sense.
Unhappy players can bring a locker room down, and this situation is becoming more and more common in professional sports.
The Browns might be willing to trade Garrett eventually, and Daniel Oyefusi outlined the reasoning for this in a recent ESPN article.
“Trading him before June 1 would bring a hefty dead cap charge of $36 million. A post-June 1 trade would come with a dead cap charge of $14.8 million and cap savings of almost $5 million,” Oyefusi said.
As Oyefusi mentioned, the Browns take a much smaller hit to their dead cap charge if Garrett is traded after June 1st, a potential reason why they are dragging their feet.
With Watson’s contract fiasco still looming, the Browns can’t afford to lose any more money, as they still need to field a competitive team in 2025.
They have a smaller chance of making a deep playoff run without Garrett, but at least they would have some new pieces after a trade, assuming they eventually go through with it.
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