Myles Garrett made his trade demand public on Monday and the Cleveland Browns have been warned that it might go how they anticipate.
Garrett is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and the franchise leader in sacks (102.5). He’s coming off another impactful year where he collected 14 sacks — second most in the NFL.
Garrett put out a statement that laid out his trade demand, saying he wants out.
“As a kid dreaming of the NFL, all I focused on was the ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl — and that goal fuels me today more than ever. My love for the community of Northeast Ohio and the incredible fan base of the Cleveland Browns has made this one of the toughest decisions of my life. These past eight years have shaped me into the man that I am today,” Garrett said in a statement shared on social media.
Browns Say They Won’t Entertain Trade Offers for Myles Garrett
Browns general manager Andrew Berry has made his stance clear on trading Garrett. It’s not happening. During the Senior Bowl, Berry told reporters that if two first-round picks were on the table, he’d turn it down.
“We always have a really good and direct two-way communication with our players,” Berry said last week. “We feel really good about Myles obviously as a big piece of our future. We’re looking forward to him being on the field. Like I said in my (early January) press conference, we envision him going from Cleveland to Canton when his career is over.”
However, Dianna Russini of The Athletic cited an NFL executive who said things could get “wild” over the next few weeks.
“Buckle up—this isn’t going to be a clean/easy breakup between the Browns and Myles Garrett,” the exec told Russini. “It’s gonna be a wild few weeks.”
Russini added that the Browns have known of Garrett’s feelings for some time, despite him just making it public on Monday.
Myles Garrett Has Put Pressure on Browns
The writing has been on the wall for some time with Garrett. At the end of the season, he said he’d consider a trade demand if he didn’t feel like Cleveland had a roadmap to becoming a Super Bowl contender quickly.
“First of all I want to win, and want the Browns to be able to put me and us in a position to win,” Garrett told reporters on Dec. 20. “I’m not trying to rebuild. I’m trying to win right now. And I want that to be apparent when the season’s over and we have those discussions. I want them to be able to illuminate, illustrate that for me so that can be something I can see in the near future. Because that’s all we want to do.
“I want to stay loyal to a team that showed loyalty to me and faith in me by drafting me, but we have to do, at the end of the day, what’s best for us.”
The Browns hold the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. It’ll be their first chance to show Garrett they’re invested in winning, if their true intention is to keep him around. Garrett is under contract through the 2026 season.
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