The saying is that it will get ugly before it gets better and the Cleveland Browns are living that one out right now.

Myles Garrett has had a trade request on the table since early February and the Browns have remained adamant that they will not be trading their franchise player.

Now, a new layer has been added and this thing is even uglier. With free agency beginning next week, it appears that Garrett’s camp is attempting to push the issue. Garrett has talked to LeBron James about leaving Cleveland and he wants to get on a better path to winning. 

According to Tom Pellissero, Garrett requested a meeting with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, and he was turned down without having said meeting. Another point that shows the Browns have their feet dug in and that they are not budging.

Myles Garrett has made clear since the end of last season that he wants to continue his hall of fame career elsewhere.

The #Browns organization — from ownership to GM to coach — is aligned on its offseason plan, which does not include trading Myles Garrett.

Stay tuned. https://t.co/Cz1geXCPbS

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 7, 2025

If Cleveland were to trade Garrett, they would force themselves into a full rebuild. Making that move before June 1 would hit Cleveland with a $36 million cap hit for the 2025 season. If he is moved after June 1, the Browns can split the dead cap over multiple years but still would have to eat a large chunk in 2025.

If the Browns were to trade Garrett, they are guaranteeing us they are going to be pretty bad in 2025. They’ll have to cut some players to make a trade work and they will enter that full rebuild. The writing would be on the wall for both Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski to be in their last season with the team. If you expect that Berry is going to trade Garrett knowing that, I don’t know what to tell you.

#Browns Edge Rusher Myles Garrett requested a meeting with Cleveland's Owner Jimmy Haslam, who declined to speak amidst Garrett’s trade request, per @TomPelissero

Cleveland refuses to even discuss a trade, while Garrett is preparing to miss games if he’s not traded pic.twitter.com/ALdGDRIg0E

— A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) March 7, 2025

Cleveland is going to operate in free agency as if Garrett is going to be on the team, all signs point toward it. That will lessen the likelihood of a trade even more, as will other teams spending their money in free agency. The Cincinnati Bengals are likely to trade star DE Trey Hendrickson, which would take a team out of the Garrett sweepstakes as well.

If you take Garrett out of this pass-rush rotation, the Browns have a very putrid group. Sure, they can draft Abdul Carter at No. 2 overall and he has future star written all over him. But if you’re the Browns, why not try to pair him with Garrett?

The Haslams haven’t always stayed out of the way, but they are choosing to in this situation. It is the right move, even if it isn’t the typical one. It is Berry’s job as the GM to figure this out in the end.

Cleveland has two years of control of Garrett, then they could franchise tag him for two years. If the Browns want it, they have up to four years of control with Garrett. Garrett’s camp knows that and they’re throwing out attempts at pushing this trade. The threat of missing games is something that isn’t going away. 

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