CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns quarterback Jameis Winston, who was rode, danced, sang and ate his way all over New Orleans as a Super Bowl correspondent for Fox Sports, explained why he felt the need to question Myles Garrett about asking the Browns to trade him.
“What I saw from the organization, I had to ask Myles, like ‘bro … tell me how you felt, because I was only there for one year, right?” Winston told Cam Jordan on his podcast Off the Edge. “And what I saw from the organization, it didn’t seem like an organization that was deteriorating. I saw bad treatment (by some booing fans) of Deshaun Watson, I saw lack of execution from the offense. I saw me throwing away some games, you know, but at the end of the day, I didn’t see anything organizationally that showed them to having a bad culture.”
Winston said he “just wanted to get the reflection from him” because he didn’t see it the same way.
“He was like ‘Jameis, you’ve never been 0-16,’” Winston said.
Winston went on to explain to Jordan, his former Saints teammate and eight-time Pro Bowler, that Garrett had only two playoff seasons out of eight and precious few victories otherwise. He got the math a little wrong, though, saying Garrett totaled about five victories in his other six seasons. It was actually 31, but all were losing campaigns
“You can only, you can only have so many individual accolades, right?” Winston said. “What is your, your greatest accomplishment? ‘Yep, I’m All-Pro, yeah, I’m the (Saints) all-time sack leader. But Cam Jordan … you had a lot of winning seasons. You had a few opportunities that you were close. You also could smell the air to achieving that, right? But he never had a glimpse of that. I mean, never. Only two years he’s been in the playofffs … outside of those playoffs … and accumulated like five wins out of the rest of the years, like bro, right? You can go to Hall of Fame all you want, but this business is a business of winning. And you know that.”
Despite Garrett’s statement that the Browns’ goals for winning in 2025 aren’t aligned with his, it hasn’t stopped Winston from wanting to return. Due to become a free agent next month, Winston is open to a return. But after the Browns benched him with three games remaining for throwing too many interceptions, he might not be high on their list of veteran bridge quarterbacks.
“I would love to go back there,” he told Kay Adams of Up and Adams. “Cleveland was better than what I expected. Cleveland has the best 90 days of anywhere in the world.
“I was living in Chagrin Falls, and I’m telling you, and I’m driving up hills, and going up what you perceive as mountains and it looks like wallpapers everywhere. I just wanted to take picture of the trees and the color. I wanted to take pictures of people’s houses, and all of this, but it’s only 90 days. 90 days of your best weather ever.”
Winston is one of several Browns players who have weighed in on Garrett’s trade request, which he made in a statement on Monday of Super Bowl week before making the rounds on radio row. Denzel Ward said he’ll “wait and see” if the Browns trade Garrett, but that he wants to continue playing with him, and David Njoku said he’ll try to talk him out of his request.
Browns Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas also believes Garrett might be happier trying to win a Super Bowl for the Browns, but that the Browns also have an opportunity to get a haul of draft picks in return that can help them build towards a championship.
