Myles Garrett wanted to be a Brown for life.
That much is clear from both his trade request made public on Monday and from his past eight seasons with the team. His professionalism despite being a part of so many losing teams has shown just how far he was pushed in order to make such a public declaration against general manager Andrew Berry.
But now, it's clear that he wishes to go play for a Super Bowl as soon as possible. Time is of the essence, and the 29 year old All-Pro is ready to play for a team with an actual vision in hand - and not for one that's still scrambling to figure out who they're starting quarterback will be in 2025.
However, Garrett clearly didn't always feel that way about Cleveland - in fact, as recently as last year, there's evidence that he genuinely felt that the Browns were the team he'd be on when winning a Super Bowl.
Old Kay Adams tweet reveals Garrett's old hopes for the Browns
In a resurfaced clip from the FanDuel TV show "Up & Adams" posted to Twitter, Garrett tells NFL reporter Kay Adams that his definition of success is "winning it all."
"I wanna be able to hold that and be able to have a parade with the city of Cleveland, you know, a historic 2023 team that did it all and brought the trophy back to Lake Erie. That's what's important to me," said Garrett of his goals back before the abysmal 3-14 season.
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Adams responded, "The scariest guys in NFL history, I'm thinking, you got James Harris, you got Aaron Donald, you got Ray Lewis, they did win. They brought that title back. Can you do that in Cleveland?"
Garrett's response: "Absolutely. And I look forward to it."
Context, as always, is important. This interview was done prior to the Browns losing their Wild Card appearance against the Houston Texans in 2023, and after a miraculous 11-7 finish behind some great performances from Joe Flacco to lead them there.
Of course Garrett would feel positively about the Browns' chances of winning it all - at that time, they had an elite defense and a competent enough offense to lead the way there. They just needed better quarterback play and to maintain their elite running game, and to maintain the level of tenacity with which their defense played in 2023.
None of this happened. The defense struggled to hold the team together on their own, and the offense floundered between four different starting quarterbacks throughout the season. And now, Cleveland fans are close to paying the price for the Browns' inability to simply build off of that 2023 season, with Garrett at risk of being shipped off to a contender instead of seeing one built around him.