The Browns fell to 2-6 and are in the thick of an evaluation year - fresh off an embarrassing loss in New England where Myles Garrett was visibly frustrated on the sideline. Garrett was notably in the news most of the early part of this past offseason after requesting a trade, which ultimately ended with a massive extension.
With the upcoming trade deadline, Garrett's frustration, and the Browns unlikelihood to compete in 2025, rumours have again swirled that the Browns should move Garrett and recoup some draft capital for the future while they aren't competitive. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com said there's "zero chance" the Browns would move Garrett and it "hasn't even been discussed," which is the right call.
Browns won't trade Myles Garrett, and they shouldn't
Starting with the cap ramifications of trading Garrett, he would go as a post-June 1st trade if moved before Tuesday. This would leave the Browns with $19,667,120 in dead cap for 2025 and $41,090,225 in 2026. For reference, Garrett is currently scheduled to carry a cap number of $23,674,000 in 2026, so the Browns trading him before Tuesday would lead to him counting almost double against the cap next year to have him play elsewhere.
A trade in-season this year would essentially nuke any chance the Browns have to be relevant at all next year. If they wanted to move him in the offseason, it would probably have to be after June 1st to avoid the $41,090,225 cap hit all in one year. Instead, they would likely trade him after June 1st, leaving them with $15,534,000 in dead cap in 2026 and $25,556,225 in 2027, which would be just less than what Garrett is currently scheduled to count for in 2027, and would put them in a rough spot in 2026 since they couldn't use the picks in that trade until the year after.
On top of accelerating the dead cap to one or two years instead of spreading it out through 2031, there is basically no way trade compensation would be fair to a player of Garrett's caliber. Other players of Garrett's caliber usually go for two first-round picks and some other compensation added on top. Teams likely to be interested in adding Garrett this year or in the offseason are likely contending, meaning it's tough to envision those picks being anything better than the mid-20s.
So, moving Garrett would put the Browns in a rough short-term cap situation, and the return package would mostly be two late first-round picks (one of which would need to be used on an edge rusher who likely wouldn't be half the player Garrett is). Downgrading a future Hall of Famer to get one later first-round pick to help the offense is hardly worth losing one of the best edge rushers the league has ever seen. Unless things escalate to the point that Garrett is willing to miss games to get moved, this isn't something that should be entertained.