Myles Garrett’s tenure with the Cleveland Browns appears to be on shaky ground.
On Thursday, Garrett fired the clearest shot yet that he intends on doing whatever it takes to get out of Cleveland.
According to a report from Mary Kay Cabot at Cleveland.com, a league source said that Garrett is “not open to” a contract extension with the Browns. Garrett currently has two years left on his deal with Cleveland, but has made clear that he is looking for an exit ramp
The drama began this offseason when Garrett, one of the best defensive players of the past decade, requested a trade so that he could have a shot at pursuing a title.
“I have a lot of love for Northeast Ohio and the community that brought me into the league,” Garrett told ESPN on Super Bowl Sunday. “I wanna get to contending and winning playoff games and having a chance to be in games like today.”
Garrett, who has played all eight seasons of his NFL career thus far with the Browns, has reached the playoffs just twice, playing in a total of three postseason games.
Earlier this week, Browns general manager Andrew Berry made clear that the team has no intention of letting Garrett search for greener pastures.
“Our stance really has not changed,” Berry told reporters at the NFL scouting combine. “We’re not interested in moving him.” Whatever extension the Browns would potentially offer Garrett would likely make him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL, but Garrett has insisted that his desire to move on is driven not by money, but by a desire to contend in the immediate future.
Based on the messaging from both sides of the negotiating table, we are looking at quite a standoff. On one side, the Browns are unwilling to move Garrett—unsurprising as no team wants to willingly give up a player as dominant as the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year. On the other side, Garrett sounds like he is done with Cleveland, and ready to chase a title as other veterans—Saquon Barkley and Matthew Stafford, to name a few—have in recent years.
Wherever the negotiations eventually lead, it looks like they could get messy along the way.
