Myles Garrett's contract provides a key trade hint we might have overlooked
By Scott Rogust
Just when professional sports fans were recovering from a chaotic weekend dominated by NBA trades, Myles Garrett decided to shake up the NFL world on Monday morning. Hours before the start of Super Bowl 59 media day, the superstar pass rusher and favorite for the Defensive Player of the Year Award released a statement requesting a trade from the Cleveland Browns to a new team.
Garrett had hinted at a potential trade, saying he didn't want to deal with a rebuild. As his statement said, Garrett's goal is to win a Super Bowl title. So, expect every team to be calling about the generational defensive end, as he will drastically improve their chances of hoisting a Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara, Calif.
While the team and general manager Andrew Berry said they have no desire to trade Garrett, they may have to at some point. One date in particular looms large for the Browns, and that's March 15, when Garrett is due $5 million.
Browns may have a deadline to trade Myles Garrett by
If the Browns are to trade Garrett, they would take on $36.2 million in dead money. Logically, fans will look at the post June 1 trade, which would lower the dead cap hit to $14.8 million in 2025. However, Jack Duffin of Orange and Brown Report says that looks unlikely to happen, due in part to the team needing to move the payment date of $5 million to after June 1.
"They could wait until the 2nd of June and do the trade which would mean $14,758,895 lands on the 2025 salary cap and $21,457,325 lands on the 2026 salary cap. There is no Post June 1st trade designation like there is cuts, you would have to wait for this date," writes Duffin. "To do this Garrett would need to edit his contract to move the payment date on the option bonus until after this date. Currently he is set to be paid $5m on the 15th of March. In all honesty I don't see waiting until June 2nd as a likely route at all."
So, with a $5 million pay day set on March 15, which happens to be three days after the start of the 2025 league year, that may very well be the date that gets both sides to reach an agreement on a new destination.
It's not an easy decision for any team to trade away their face of the franchise f they want out. But eventually one side has to cave from their demands. It may very well be the Browns in this case, who could get quite a return from a team. The thing is, it's going to be nearly impossible to get anything equal to what Garrett brings the team.