The Cleveland Browns hardly ever make the slam-dunk decision. They have a flair for the dramatic that oftentimes borders on recklessness. Recent intel unwittingly exposes a glaring gaffe by Andrew Berry and the Browns front office — if it is indeed true.
For all of the goodwill Berry built up this offseason, he punctuated it with a move that we won't know the full magnitude of for at least a few years. His decision to trade arguably the greatest player in franchise history, Myles Garrett, could get the Browns back on track in due course. However, the club's reported lack of due diligence in the process was questionable, to say the least.
ESPN summed up the lead-up to the stunning blockbuster deal that sent Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams thusly:
"Berry had wrestled with the emotions tied to trading the face of the Browns' franchise, but it was outweighed by what he viewed as a deal that was beneficial for the organization. He laid out three conditions that an offer would have to satisfy if he ever entertained trading Garrett: Short- and long-term benefits, a young, cost-controlled player at a premium position and premium draft capital.
"Berry acknowledged those requirements limited the pool of trade partners. He also said Garrett did not request another trade, and Cleveland didn't seek a bidding war to bring other teams into negotiations."
Browns not canvassing the Myles Garrett trade market proves they may truly be the caricature of incompetence
Most of it is self-serving slop laid out to make the organization look wise. The return was excellent, and the Browns can truly say that they met the three requirements they insisted on — a revelation made only after the trade was complete, of course. It's that pesky last sentence that should have fans horrified by how the franchise dealt their single most valuable asset.
If you've ever sold anything — from a pencil to a classmate on the playground to an electronic on eBay to a car in real life — you probably know the best way to assess the value of your item is to put it on the market. While the first offer you receive very well may be the best one, there's no way of knowing what the other offers would be if you didn't seek them out.
The fact that children in the cafeteria have mastered this concept when trading lunchtime snacks while the Ivy League-educated Cleveland front office did not is almost too cartoonish to believe. When it comes to the Browns, the ineptitude knows no bounds. If Berry did indeed limit the pool of trade partners to just the Rams, he's done himself, but more importantly, the entire Browns fan base, a colossal disservice.
Just about a year-and-a-half ago, the NBA was set ablaze by the Dallas Mavericks' decision to trade megastar Luka Dončić, then 25 years old, to the Los Angeles Lakers for a return centered around Anthony Davis and a singular first-round pick. The trade drew unanimous ire — to the point of allegations of league-rigging for the popular Lakers — since the Lakers got one of the league's brightest stars for effectively peanuts.
The conspiracy grew when it was quickly reported that no other team was invited to the Dončić sweepstakes. The Lakers had only themselves to compete with, just as the Rams did in their pursuit of Garrett. The general manager responsible for the entire fiasco in Dallas has since been fired, and Berry could join him soon enough.
Maybe it's because Garrett plays defense. Maybe it's because the Browns still managed a considerable haul despite their mind-numbing negotiation tactics. In any case, Los Angeles has once again benefited from a team completely dropping the ball when it comes to negotiating away their best players.
The Browns' decision to trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson back in 2022 is considered perhaps the worst trade in NFL history. For the Houston Texans, it's considered one of the greatest. If Berry had learned a single thing from the nightmare he's lucky to have survived, it's that the Texans got him to pay through the nose by pitting him against other suitors. Alas, not even that could serve as a silver lining of such a horrible deal.
It goes without saying that this has nothing to do with Jared Verse. It doesn't even have anything to do with the Rams in particular — they just happened to be the beneficiary. In the same ESPN piece, when discussing Los Angeles' angle, it was reported that they insisted on discretion out of respect for Verse. Surely, it had nothing to do with other teams finding out Garrett was available and potentially offering more.
Even if Verse had been the apple of Berry's eye from the get-go, could he have finagled an offer from the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers that forced the Rams to up their offer? We'll never know. Would the math have changed if the Seattle Seahawks offered cornerback Devon Witherspoon and picks? How about if the Philadelphia Eagles sent Jalen Carter with draft capital to Cleveland? Those are mere hypotheticals, because Berry, apparently, never told the 30 other teams that acquiring Garrett was a possibility.
It's important to note that a Philadelphia reporter claimed the Browns did ask for Carter, while a Cleveland-area reporter quickly shut that down, adding that the two sides never engaged in trade talks. The buildings in Cleveland speak, and reporters are the megaphone. Berry appears proud that he was noble to the Rams and didn't take them to the cleaners.
Finally, some Berry defenders have touted Garrett's "no trade clause." That, too, is not reason enough to avoid casting a wider net. For one, no losing teams like the Jets or Cardinals would be banging down Cleveland's door for the 30-year-old pass rusher. He doesn't fit their timeline, and they'd have no interest in trading for a player who didn't want to play there.
The franchises that would be interested would be other contenders, teams Garrett presumably would've been just as enthused to play for. The Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Eagles, Seahawks, and 49ers all have legitimate aspirations of contending in the NFC this upcoming season. Los Angeles — to which Garrett has no particular connection — has never been reported as the only destination he was willing to play for. That is simply revisionist history.
The Browns are lucky to have received a great package in exchange for Garrett. The process that got them there proves the entire operation may just stink from the top down, though. Hopefully for the Dawg Pound, Berry's luck holds. It's been carrying a far heavier load than his judgment lately.
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