Why Cleveland Browns Would Be Foolish To Trade Myles Garrett Right Now

News of Myles Garrett’s reworked contract with the Cleveland Browns sent shockwaves throughout the NFL, with the consensus agreeing that the new structure likely points to facilitating an eventual trade, and not cap relief.

Are the Browns seriously considering moving on from Garrett? And what kind of package would it take to pry him away from Cleveland?

The timing of this move raises a few eyebrows as well, with the league set to discuss the Browns’ proposal to allow teams to trade draft picks up to five years into the future, up from the current limit of three.

With all sorts of speculation flying around the NFL, here are three reasons why it would be foolish for the Browns to trade away Myles Garrett right now:

Why Surrender Talent?

In the memorable words of former NFL head coach Marvin Lewis: “You play to win the game”. And in order to win, you need talent -- lot’s of it.

Garrett has already made his way into the conversation for the best defensive end of all time, if not the best defensive player of all time, period. He’s coming off a record-breaking 23-sack season and a unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Award, as well as his seventh Pro Bowl nod and fifth first-team All-Pro selection.

To put it simply, he’s the best in the world at what he does. There is no one-to-one substitute for him in the NFL.

Even taking his numbers out of the equation, you still need to account for the way he influences offensive gameplans so other Browns can make plays around him.

The labels “generational talent” and “future first-ballot Hall of Famer” haven’t been widely used on Browns players in decades, save for Joe Thomas, so why get rid of such a precious commodity, and one of the only reasons fans have for still buying tickets to Cleveland’s games?

What Has Cleveland Done With Draft Picks Anyway?

Even if you get a boatload of draft picks in return for Garrett, what is Cleveland exactly going to do with all that draft capital? Draft another quarterback at 22 overall?

The Browns’ draft history over the last couple of decades reads like a step-by-step guide on what not to do, despite an extraordinary haul from last year’s class.

Do the Browns think they can really luck into drafting another generational talent like they did with the first overall pick in 2017? And even then, they could’ve easily taken Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson a little further down that same year -- they had an extra first-rounder -- but the club decided they were set with DeShone Kizer, Kevin Hogan and Cody Kessler, delivering the league’s second 0-16 season ever. So yeah, the Garrett pick still feels very lucky after all these drafts since.

You certainly don’t want to hand over your best player for a few extra rolls of the dice.

Why Set the Table Up for Someone Else?

Cleveland just hit the reset button on most of the team’s top coaches, including the head coach and all three coordinators. General manager Andrew Berry -- who came to Cleveland paired with the recently fired head coach -- was spared during the purge.

This means the Browns should be in “win now” mode from Berry’s perspective. New head coach Todd Monken might have the luxury to wait for 2027 to get his choice of quarterback, but it’s uncertain if Berry would be afforded this opportunity.

Trading the best defensive player in the league, and probably the best player overall for the 2025 season, for a bunch of picks spread out into the future will do nothing for the team short-term, except guarantee a huge dropoff on defense.

Even assuming Cleveland could somehow draft flawlessly with whatever picks they get for Garrett, that rebuild would take some time that Berry likely doesn’t have. Owner Jimmy Haslam seemed more desperate than ever to win when firing Stefanski, so there might not be a lot of patience left for the GM.

Bottom-line is the Browns have enough draft picks as it is -- if they’re invested wisely -- to turn around the team’s fortunes. Cleveland showed it can put together a solid draft class last year, probably its best overall since 1999.

Surrounding Garrett with better playmakers, giving your team a fighting chance at quarterback, and staying the course seems feels like a sounder gameplan than letting your finest player walk out the door in the prime of his career.