DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Myles Garrett Trade Talk Continued....

Report: Browns changing their tune on trading Myles Garrett

While the Cleveland Browns were completely hardened against trading defensive end Myles Garrett despite his request, they may be softening their stance.

The Athletic’s Diana Russini has reported that the Browns are now telling teams a less hesitant response to trading Garrett. According to the NFL insider, the Browns have been responding to calls with a “We are not moving him… but stay tuned.”

This is a different tune than they were singing just a few weeks ago when they were vehemently against any trade action regarding the All-Pro and 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. It now looks like Garrett’s time in Cleveland may be dwindling.

Russini states that she expects teams to want to get a deal done by the start of the new league year in mid-March. With the NFL combine next week, talks could accelerate as all of the NFL executives will be in Indianapolis together for the week.

https://brownswire.usatoday.com/2025/02/18/browns-myles-garrett-trade-rumors/

Bone, I agree with 95% of what you say including your last post. We have enough on our plate without the Myles distraction. I don't want to trade him he's a great player, but I can see where he's coming from. It's doubtful we will be serious contenders in the next 3-5 years. Myles doesn't want to end up like Joe Thomas. His value will never be as high as it is now. We can play all interested teams against one another and get max trade value. I was leaning towards keeping him until the trade deadline, but a lot can happen between now and then. What if Myles gets a serious injury? I think it would be prudent for all parties to trade him soon. If I may add, how we treat a player of Myles caliber will have an effect on the team. If we treat him well and fairly other players will take note not only on the Browns but throughout the league. I feel that's important.

I'm sorry but I don't believe Berry has done much at all over the last 5-years in the best interest of the team. He has a losing record as a GM, has a 5-year losing HC, and the team is in much worse shape than when he arrived; so, I have zero faith of him deciding in the best interest of the team.

After 5-years:

The Browns are in a way worst shape at QB than when he got here - FACT

The Browns have taken a considerable step back at RB consistent play since 2000 with no viable solution on the roster now - FACT

The Browns line is aging with 1 being a FA carrying $11,812,056 in dead cap for 2025, 3 others north of 30 that are in the last year of their contract, 1 with 2-years left but injury riddled, and only 1 possible starter today in Jones as a viable replacement - FACT

Compared to 2000, the Browns WR room has been decimated and currently consists of one sure starter in Jeudy and then a group of others with many question marks plus paying $22,584,000 in dead cap in 2025 for a traded Cooper - FACT

A tight end who has never performed consistently for his pay grade who is also in the final year of his contract - FACT

Za'Darius Smith signed as a FA in 2024 only to be traded mid season to Detroit carrying a $14,233,000 dead cap charge to the Browns in 2025. FACT

And finally, the Browns best player on the team is demanding a trade that will leave the Browns an additional $36,216,220 in dead cap for 2025 if traded prior to June 1 - FACT


Berry screwed this team up for years with his constant restructure of contracts and nonexistent succession planning. Before anything happens with this team, Berry has to address the ($31,015,430) cap deficit by March 12th with a minimum of at least 25-30 million extra for FA's and the draft. Nope, I don't believe he's done much of anything in the best interest of the team. LOL, and we haven't even talked about the defensive woes yet.

It seems rather confusing how you blame the state of this roster on AB, which I agree with, and then lump the HC in with having a poor record with the bad team you claim AB has assembled. AB hasn't given Stefnaski a QB to win with. Yet he still managed to get this team to the playoffs last year. Winston was total insurance this team wasn't going anywhere this past season and Stefanski didn't sign Winston.

Don't care really, the Mayfield saga was all started by Stefanski. The result has been terrible at best thus far. Berry might have pulled the strings but anyone believing that Stefanski is innocent in that process is sadly mistaken.

On another note, the new cap is out, and the Browns deficit dropped to ($24,015,430). This is still a massive hill to climb.

So, Baker Mayfield takes no blame for the drama he created. It is Stefanski's fault.

It is documented after a loss that Baker screamed at Stefanski when Stefanski checked on the status of Myles Garrett after a game when Myles got hurt in the game.

Baker was the cause of the team split that forced management to side with him and ship Odell Beckham off mid-season.

Baker had other issues, but he is blameless to his own immaturity.

As I recall it wasn't until Baker found out the FO was courting DW that he demanded to be traded. I'm not sure in what world that was something Stefanski is responsible for other than being a part of someone's speculation and reading tea leaves.

Never said Mayfield was blameless. However, I get sick and tired of Stefanski continuing to be held blameless for anything that has happened to this team. The guy has a 5-year losing record - PERIOD. The Browns have not had a QB be as successful as Mayfield for a whole season since he left. The Browns have never had a QB throw for 41 TD's in a season with Brian Sipe being the all-time leader with 30 way back in 1980. Mayfield is 5th all time with 27 in 2018 and 6th with 26 in 2020. Heck, the most Watson has ever thrown for in a regular season was 33 in 2020.

Here's a question, why shouldn't Stefanski be held responsible for coaching out Mayfield's young immaturity. Isn't that a part of the HC's job or are we going to give him a pass on that too? I mean it is reported that Stefanski forbid or was forbidden from talking negative about Watson's play. Maybe, just a hunch, that's the reason why Garrett really wants out - no accountability on the HC meaning he knows the team won't get better. I suspect this year the excuses will be flying very early that Stefanski is dealing with a rebuild so he's unaccountable for that poor record too!

Mayfield made it obvious he didn't grow up until he faced adversity. How is it you think that you can make a young guy who has been nothing but coddled his entire life suddenly just grow up? That's just crazy talk.

And the HC hasn't been given a legitimate QB since this FO made the decision to move on from Mayfield PERIOD!

Experience, maturity, being humble and understandings about human behaviors helps you.
You have to remember that both Berry and Stefanski were also quite young at that time, that didn’t help them when making the decision to leave Baker behind.

I've dealt with younger people in hiring for many years. It's true that if you handle things properly many of them can be taught to be more responsible and less childish. But the ingredients I've always found needed in order to accomplish that is they have to believe it will help them and they have to have the desire to do so.

I have never dealt with a young person that has been coddled his entire life and through all of that has been rewarded and successful to that point. I would bet any amount of money that such a situation would be a much harder mission to accomplish. What motivation would they have to mature when they've had so much success being who they are now?

As it turns out, according to him, it took some major adversity for him to turn that corner and I'm not going to blame anyone else for that other than himself as well as all of the coaches and people that coddled him before he was drafted. But he did outgrow it. Obviously the hard way.

In the end there was only one person who had the responsibility and whose job it was to make the decision to move on from Baker and mortgage the farm for DW. And that person wasn't Stefanski. I'm not sure what makes that so confusing for people to understand.

Why does the NFL even bother with contracts if the players don’t have to live up to them? Shouldn't the Players Union under terms of the mutual CBA dissuade players in this situation. It is wrong that fanbases, the life’s blood of their fortunes, should take the pain? Browns should think about suing LeBron for contractual interference. I know it wouldn’t hold up, but it might deter the next OBJ Daddy from wrecking a team.

Love the ideae but I think the cap implications would be untenable

I said that a month ago and was scoffed at… smh. It makes perfect sense to me and several years ago we did exactly that with a player for another team, basically bought a second round pick for 16 mill iirc. We all hate to lose Myles, but doing this and taking Abdul Carter at #two would bring some instant relief and set us up for taking a shot on a legit QB in the 26/27 drafts. I think it makes more sense than keeping that DW cancer and drama for two more seasons. And Myles woulkd be bailing us out on his way out, win win.

My understanding is that if we trade DW then all his signing bonus (which we have been extending out) all hits at once
I don't know if my number are correct but I think that wiil be $70 million+

We could restructure him again before, putting some or all of that on the team taking him. But the details are something the NFL magic bean counters would have to do.

If that proposed trade with the Commanders came to fruition, hypothetically, what draft capitol would we get for Myles?

DW can just ride out the remainder of his contract on the bench as a backup, or retire. His performance destroyed the Browns when we were finally righting this ship. He can sit and watch as we rebuild, again.

If it's even possible to execute a trade to manipulate cap hit like is being suggested...

I would imagine the Browns would look to strike a balance between cap relief and draft capital. More cap relief would mean getting less draft capital back in the trade (and vice-versa).


Didn't the league put a rule in place for this exact thing after we did the Brock Osweiler trade?

The only way they could structure a trade like that is the other team would trade draft picks and cash, and it would need to be significant amount of cash that the Browns could use as cap space. But the more cash the less draft picks a team would be willing to send.

Did they? I remember the hoopla about it and attempts to shame the browns for buying a pick. But I don’t remember a rule acually being made.

There is no rules that prevent 1 team from using cap space to gain draft picks to improve their team while at the same time helping another team gain cap space. That is how trades should work benefitable to both parties.

c


called it

That's great if it works. But he can get that money from any team he goes to and he made it clear he doesn't want be here. We'll just have to see how this all plays out I suppose. And be careful, even the source you quoted is called "NFL Rumors". They don't even pretend they're reporting the facts.

The Browns navigate yet another offseason crisis. There’s something every single year.

Schefter reports on The Pat McAfee Show that the Browns are “dug in” and will not entertain any trade offers for Garrett:

“We have a team here in the Cleveland Browns, I know that we get swept up in the moment, we got this Defensive Player of the Year requesting a trade out of Cleveland. This is not a surprise to the Browns. The Browns knew about his unhappiness and I think they have asked around and prepared for it. They’ve got some opinions on how to best handle this situation… I think they are dug in and entrenched in their stance that they arenot going to trade Myles Garrett.”

Sounds like FO trying to leverage a bit more trade value perhaps. I do not want to lose him, but this is game on, I suspect. How much will it take to pry him out of Cleveland? Can we increase his value, maybe before June?

Here’s a Myles Garett trade scenario that would solve Cleveland’s biggest problem

By Mike Florio
Published February 14, 2025 11:50 AM
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/cleveland-browns



Defensive end Myles Garrett wants out of Cleveland. And he has yet to relent on his trade demand.

While Browns owner Jimmy Haslam might decide to dig in his heels and refuse to give Garrett what he wants, there’s a way to eliminate a pair of massive headaches with one pill.

The message would go like this: “If you want Myles Garrett, you have to take Deshaun Watson.”

It would amount to an extra $92 million commitment, with the new team getting Garrett and owing Watson the balance of his five-year, $230 million, fully-guaranteed contract.

The new team wouldn’t put Watson on the field. He’s already highly unlikely to play in 2025, given that he had surgery last month on his re-torn Achilles tendon.

It would be a twist to the Brock Osweiler deal the Browns did seven years ago, when they absorbed $16 million in guaranteed salary and received a second-round pick.

If, of course, a new team takes Watson as part of a Garrett trade, the Deshaun Tax would reduce the draft-pick compensation and/or the new team’s willingness to give Garrett a market-value contract. But if the Browns could engineer the same kind of competition that the Texans finagled three years ago — with four teams (Browns, Panthers, Falcons, Saints) pre-approved to negotiate with Watson — the Browns could include Watson’s albatross contract in the minimal asking price for permission to talk to Garrett.

Would a contender take Watson to get Garrett? The three-pronged negotiations could include an effort to get the Browns to eat some of the $92 million. That would impact the draft picks and the Garrett contract. But if step one focuses solely on the Watson contract and the draft picks given to Cleveland, it would be for the finalists to then make their best financial case to Garrett.

Not many true contenders could pull it off. The Commanders have a massive amount of cap space for 2025. The Chargers do, too. The Vikings and Lions could also make it work without major pain. (The Vikings could justify dumping that kind of cash into a quarterback who won’t play by pointing to J.J. McCarthy’s slotted rookie deal, which averages less than $5.5 million per year.)

In the end, a team that’s currently on the Super Bowl porch would have to believe Garrett is the difference between knocking on the door and kicking it in. And that team would have to be willing and able to explain away the inheritance of the thoroughly unpopular Watson as a business proposition. Possibly, the winner of the Garrett/Watson package would have to cut Watson as soon as the ink dries on the trade paperwork.

And, yes, Watson has a no-trade clause. But if he still gets his money and if it gets him out of Cleveland and ultimately to free agency in 2026, he’d surely consider it.

Regardless, this might be the kind of outside-the-box approach needed to pry Garrett away from the Browns. If, of course, the Browns are willing both to move on from Garrett and to finally admit to themselves and everyone else that the 2022 trade for Watson was and is the worst trade-and-sign of the salary-cap era, and possibly the single worst transaction in NFL history.

I don't know if that scenario will come to fruition. We can all hope. What I do know is that our FO will have to get very creative and think outside the box to get our beloved Browns out of this mess and back on track. They got us into this and it's their job to get us out. Use any and all means. JMO

That makes me wonder if Florio now has one of those brain worms we've heard so much about?

That can not realistically happen. That trade would count as $100 million towards this years cap.
$36 million for Garrett and $72 million for watson
That is in addition to the $46 million in dead space that we already have.

The cap is going to be $277 million

$277 million minus $144 million = $133 million for the entire roster

By

Terry Pluto, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – I’ve been getting emails about the Browns attaching Deshaun Watson to any deal involving Myles Garrett.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio went into great detail about how this complicated transaction could happen. Maybe it will, assuming the Browns change their stance of “We’re not trading Myles Garrett.”

Let’s assume they do decide to deal the elite pass rusher.

I’m not going to get deeply into all the details involved. Among other things, Watson would have to approve a trade. He has a no-trade clause. The last time he was in that situation, he invoked it and demanded a new contract from Cleveland. He had three years left on his deal with Houston.

That fully guaranteed $230 million deal through the 2026 season continues to haunt the franchise. He could demand another new contract to approve any trade.

I was shocked when the Browns tossed in the no-trade clause in their record-breaking contract offer with Watson in 2022. Why? Because he wanted it and it had served him well once before.

At that point, the Browns seemed committed to making a deal for Watson almost regardless of the terms – therefore, add in the no-trade clause.

The situation with Watson is he’s recovering from his second Achilles surgery. It’s unlikely he’ll play this season. Who knows if he ever plays again.

Yes, there are many reasons for the Browns to want to rid themselves of the Watson contract — but is a Garrett trade the way to do it?
Looking deeper

But there is something else to think about. Suppose you were a team with a lot of salary cap room. That would be required for a massive deal such as this. Consider the following:

1. Myles Garrett doesn’t want to simply be traded. He also wants a new contract making him the highest paid defensive player in NFL history. No doubt the contract the Browns gave Watson bothered Garrett.

2. Garrett has two years left on his current deal. So a new team would have to work that out, which would also entail a larger burden on the salary cap for his new team.

3. The new team would be taking on Watson’s whopper of a contract, assuming he OK’s the trade. It also would have Garrett’s contract.

4. If you’re that team, how much would you give the Browns on assets (draft picks, players) in this deal? That’s a key question.

History lesson No. 1

Fans have been writing me about the Brock Osweiler trade. Why can’t the Browns do something like that with Watson?

In 2017, Houston traded Osweiler and his $16 million contract to Cleveland. The Browns also received Houston’s second-round pick in 2018 and a sixth-round pick in 2017.

What did Cleveland send to Houston? A 2017 pick in the fourth round. That was it.

Osweiler never played a regular season down for the Browns. He was cut. He bounced to Denver and then Miami. He started nine more games (2-7 record) in the next two seasons. That was it in the NFL. He was paid $16 million by the Browns in 2017.

The Browns used that second-round pick in 2018 to draft Nick Chubb.

The point is the Browns gave up only a 2017 fourth-round pick and swallowed the $16 million contract, turning it into one of the best running backs in team history.

If a team is going to assume a lucrative, salary-cap menace of a contract … that team is not going to give up much in return.

History lesson No. 2

In June 2002, the Tribe was fading. They needed prospects. They shipped Bartolo Colon to Montreal for veteran Lee Stevens and three elite prospects: Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips.


The GM at the time was Mark Shapiro. When we talked about the trade for my book “Dealing,” Shapiro discussed the pressure he felt to get back a lot in return. Like Garrett, Colon was 29 years old and a star.

“You only get to trade a Bartolo Colon once,” Shapiro said.

Lee and Sizemore became All-Stars with Cleveland. They gave up too early on Phillips, and he became an All-Star after being traded to the Reds.

What about a Garrett trade?

No NFL trades can happen until March 12, I have no indication the Browns have changed their minds about Garrett — they still want to keep him.

But if they do decide to deal Garrett, then it’s like the Bartolo Colon situation. You only get to trade a player like that in his prime once.

Therefore, you better get a lot in return.

The NFL doesn’t have a minor league for prospects like baseball. The colleges are the minors. Draft picks are like trading for prospects.

If the Browns do deal Garrett and it’s mostly about dumping Watson, they will have blown a huge opportunity to upgrade their roster.

That’s why I’m convinced if the Browns do decide to trade Garrett, it won’t be as part of a Watson trade.
A final few words

I checked with a top NFL source, one who understands the cap and the Browns' situation. Here’s what he said about those Watson/Garrett rumors:

“It’s nonsense on about 10,000 levels.”

I tend to agree with this assessment.


https://www.cleveland.com/browns/20...atson-to-a-garrett-deal-terry-pluto.html

He makes a lot more sense than Florio did.

Agreed. I think the only relief we might get from this DW deal is insurance money. Other than that, we own this mess for the foreseeable future.

March 14 (Third day of 2025 league year)

This is the deadline for the Browns to pick up the option on edge rusher Myles Garrett's dummy 2028 contract year. A $5 million payment is necessary to lower Garrett's 2025 base salary to $14,796,125 from $19,796,125. Two teammates -- offensive guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller -- have $3 million and $1 million roster bonuses due. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah's $11,031,878 2026 base salary was guaranteed for injury at signing. The linebacker has $5 million of the $11,031,878 fully guaranteed.

The Browns cap woes continue. On another note:

Veteran QB's rumored the Browns are looking at:
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has a $4 million roster bonus due on March 14th. Two of Stafford's offensive linemen, offensive guard Kevin Dotson and center Jonah Jackson have fully guaranteed $8.5 million roster bonuses due. Dotson and Jackson's injury guaranteed $8 million and $9 million 2025 base salaries become fully guaranteed.

Saints quarterback Derek Carr's $30 million 2025 base salary, which is guaranteed for injury, becomes fully guaranteed on March 14th. Additionally, Carr has a $10 million fifth day of the 2025 league year roster bonus that's already fully guaranteed.