Pride of Detroit
The latest on Myles Garrett trade rumors via a pair of NFL insiders.
One of the biggest pawns of the entire NFL offseason is the future of Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett. The 2023 Defensive Player of the Year made it very clear with a public statement that he wants to be traded from the Browns, because he desires to chase a Super Bowl and doesn’t believe that’ll happen in Cleveland.
“While I’ve loved calling this city my home, my desire to win and compete on the biggest stages won’t allow me to be complacent,” Garrett wrote a few weeks back. “The goal was never to go from Cleveland to Canton, it has always been to compete for and win a Super Bowl. With that in mind, I have requested to be traded from the Cleveland Browns.”
But since that request, it doesn’t appear the Browns have budged from their status of complete disinterest in trading him. During a conference call on Thursday, NFL insider Daniel Jeremiah said teams are currently operating with the understanding that Cleveland is not trading Garrett.
“Everything in talking to people as of late around the league, the expectation is, ‘No, they’re not going to move him. He’s not going to go anywhere.’ We’ll see what happens,” Jeremiah said on a conference call on Thursday.
That said, Jeremiah does believe the Detroit Lions should be one of the teams to make a hard push for Garrett.
“Detroit has the roster that’s ready to win right now, ready to win a championship. That could be a finishing piece,” Jeremiah said. “I would be willing to be pretty aggressive I think if I were Brad Holmes on that front knowing that that could bring a parade to my city. I would be aggressive and do whatever I had to do and try and make something like that happen.”
Jeremiah is not the only NFL insider saying that he has doubts the Browns trade Garrett. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler had this to say on a SportsCenter appearance this week (via AthlonSports):
“The stance is still hard no. I checked on that this morning,” Fowler said. “They have no plans to trade him. That’s been their sentiment since he made the trade request a few weeks ago. Teams are going to try, but I was actually told that not a lot of teams have inquired so far, in part because they know the answer is ‘no’ right now.”
Of course, the Browns certainly benefit from looking like they are unwilling to trade Garrett. Theoretically, it drives the price up, but at the same time, they have legitimate reasons not to make this move. For one, Garrett is a generational talent, and no team should part with an asset like that unless they’ve reached a complete impasse. At this point, we don’t know how firm Garrett’s stance is.
Additionally, trading away Garrett would put a huge financial strain on a team that is already estimated to be over the...
