MOBILE, Ala. — For those who want the Browns to trade Myles Garrett so they can stock up on first round picks and rebuild, it’s not happening.
Browns general manager Andrew Berry, speaking to three of the club’s regular beat writers here including cleveland.com, stated unequivocally that he won’t trade the Browns’ future Hall of Famer and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
He was asked specifically, “If someone sees you at dinner tonight and says, ‘We’ll give you two ones for Myles,’ do you say, ‘I’m not interested?’”
“Correct,” he said. “You can put that on the record.”
He also said he’s definitely open to the contract extension that Garrett, 29, revealed after the season finale in Baltimore that he’s seeking. He’s under contract through 2026 at $25 million a year, fifth-highest among NFL edge rushers. For comparison’s sake, San Francisco’s Nick Bosa is first at $34 million.
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“I don’t want to go into contract discussions. I wouldn’t do that publicly,” Berry said. “But I think you can assume that we do anticipate at some point doing a third contract with Myles. We want him to retire here.”
With the Browns consistently stating that Garrett, a finalist again this year for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, they might have to make him the highest-paid defensive end in the NFL, or at least get him closer to the top of the market heading into his ninth NFL season.
The Browns have consistently said he’s the best defensive player in the NFL, and now they might have to pay him like it.
“If he won the award last year playing it the way he played last year, I don’t see how he’s not the best defensive player in the game this year,” Stefanski said at the end of the season. “Whatever metric you want to measure that by, if you want to go with the eye test, I think everybody would agree.
“If you want to go with the advanced metrics and look at the pressure numbers and the times that he’s getting double-teamed and slides are going his way, that’s the piece to me that I think is so impressive and remarkable. He’s doing all this with getting all of the attention from the other team.”
Berry also noted Tuesday that his postseason meeting with Garrett went well. Late in the season, Garrett revealed that the Browns needed to show him a blueprint for winning or he’d want to go elsewhere to try to win a Super Bowl.
“We always have a really good and direct two-way communication with our players,” Berry said. “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.”
Garrett also said recently that “we’re close than some think we are,” and indicated he wants to be back.
On Dec. 20, he made it clear that he wanted assurances from the Browns that they’d make every effort to contend this season and that he wasn’t up for a rebuild.
“I want that to be apparent, when the season’s over and we have those discussions, I want them to be able to illuminate that for me, illustrate that for me, so that (winning) can be something that I can see in the near future. Because that’s all we want to do.
“I’m going 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. So if we have that alignment where this is something that is still possible in the near future, winning, going deep in the playoffs, putting a great defense out there, having a time of possession, running-game offense. Getting all the guys back. I think that would really keep my mind at rest, keep me settled. Not just mine, a lot of the guys on the defense, the D-line, around the team. But we have to continue to take strides forward, not just as players, but from the top down.”
Now, he’ll not only be back, but will likely have many more millions to show for his efforts.
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