The Cleveland Browns made the biggest move of the NFL offseason when they traded Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams, and one month later, the trade winds around the team’s defense have yet to die down.
Cornerback Denzel Ward and safety Grant Delpit remain foundational pieces of a Cleveland defense that has ranked among the NFL’s best in recent seasons. But with the Browns fully leaning into a youth movement built around Jared Verse, Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger and a stockpile of future draft picks, neither veteran defensive back is guaranteed to finish the 2026 season in Cleveland.
Zac Jackson of The Athletic raised that possibility in a July 1 look at which current Browns will still be on the roster when the team opens its new stadium in Brook Park in 2029.
“If the team fully embraces a forward-facing approach, it could look to trade Delpit and five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Ward sometime between July and November’s trade deadline,” Jackson wrote. “Though Delpit and Ward have both been the kind of players and people the Browns would love to have on the roster well into the future, it’s unlikely that the team’s current longest-tenured players would be in the roster plans for 2029 — and it’s no certainty that either will finish 2026 in Cleveland.”
Denzel Ward, Grant Delpit Could Be Moved Before November Trade Deadline
Ward, who became the longest-tenured Brown the moment Garrett was dealt, is signed through 2027 — his age-30 season — but has no guaranteed money remaining on the five-year, $100.5 million extension he signed in 2022. According to Over the Cap, Ward carries a $30.8 million cap hit in 2026 — second on the team behind only Deshaun Watson — and Cleveland could clear roughly $17.5 million in cap space by trading him before the November 4 deadline.
Delpit’s situation is even more immediate. The 27-year-old safety is entering the final year of his contract, and the Browns used a second-round pick in April on Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren — a 22-year-old whose timeline aligns far more neatly with the roster general manager Andrew Berry is building.
Both Ward and Delpit stayed away from the voluntary portion of the offseason program and neither participated in mandatory minicamp due to injuries. Head coach Todd Monken declined to say whether the absences were injury-related.
A slow start would position Cleveland as a deadline seller, and a five-time Pro Bowl cornerback and a proven starting safety could be two of the most attractive veteran defenders on the market.
Browns Star Denzel Ward Addressed Trade Rumors After Myles Garrett Deal
Ward has already made his preference clear. Speaking to reporters at his inaugural celebrity softball game on June 6, Ward told ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi that he has no intention of following his former teammate out of town.
“I definitely still want to be here,” Ward said. “Myles is a good friend of mine, a great teammate, but things aren’t lost. It’s Ohio against the world. So people could doubt us, but we’re going out there still trying to play our best ball and bring wins to the city.”
Ward — an Ohio native who starred at Ohio State before the Browns drafted him No. 4 overall in 2018 — called the Garrett deal a “crazy trade.” But he acknowledged that after watching the franchise move on from a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, no one is untouchable.
“I could get traded, but I don’t look too much into that stuff,” Ward said. “It’s the nature of the game. Say I do get traded, for me, wherever I’m at that’s where I’m supposed to be. So if I’m here, I’m supposed to be here. If I go to a different team, that’s where I’m supposed to be. But I love playing for the Cleveland Browns. I want to be here.”
Berry, for his part, has downplayed the idea of moving Ward.
“He’s a big part of the team, and we like him a lot,” Berry said. “He’s still playing at a really high level. That doesn’t change with this transaction.”
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