I want to give Myles Garrett the benefit of the doubt so bad. He has spent his entire career with a team that can’t escape the rebuilding phase no matter how many moves they make. Garrett forcing his hand and demanding a trade was the move that looked to get the front office on track to finally build a championship-caliber roster.
But in the end, Garrett’s demand was predicated on one thing: Money. Zac Jackson of The Athletic said Garrett’s motives weren’t surrounded around a new contract extension, but instead to learn of Cleveland’s plans to improve the roster. Yet the Browns haven’t made any significant moves that make it clear they’re out of the rebuild phase. $120-plus million in guaranteed money later, Garrett is happy again.
Garrett absolutely deserves to be on a team that cares about winning. But don’t just blatantly lie that your trade request wasn’t a ploy to get more money. Apparently money can’t buy happiness, but Garrett seems pretty content on a miserable football team after his contract extension.
Nobody should be buying that Myles Garrett claimed money wasn’t his motive to stay in Cleveland
Correct me if I’m wrong, but right now the Browns haven’t upgraded their wide receiver room, their offensive line and swapped second string quarterbacks with the Philadelphia Eagles. Not a single move the Browns have made aside from keeping Garrett screams they’re ready to contend.
It feels more like a Dallas Cowboys move as a smoke screen to convince the fan base that any move is a good one. Until the Browns truly add winning pieces to this roster, they aren’t going to win.
Soon Garrett is going to realize all that guaranteed money is going to hold him back from ever being a Super Bowl champion. After his contract negotiations concluded, it was a weird feeling.
The team didn’t make any moves before re-signing him and they are still paying Deshaun Watson an absorbent amount of money to not play games. To make matters worse, the Browns are seriously considering Russell Wilson as next year’s starting quarterback.
While Wilson did find a semblance of his former self in Pittsburgh, the ending of his season with the Steelers is exactly why the Denver Broncos took a dead cap hit of more than $50 million to discard him. Wilson is not the quarterback for the Browns. This offense doesn’t need an aging quarterback to overpay. They also can’t afford to just trust a rookie quarterback because as history shows, that’s not the move either.
Garrett got what he ultimately wanted, which was more money. He claimed he wanted to win a championship and was willing to leave Cleveland to do so. But what he really wanted was to force Cleveland to pay as much as possible to keep him happy.
If they were willing to foot a $235 million guaranteed deal for Watson, surely, they could fork enough money together to keep Garrett happy. As annoying as losing is, it feels a whole lot better after that direct deposit hits.