An adjustment to Myles Garrett's contract opens the door for a potential blockbuster trade involving the star edge rusher. What does this mean for his future in Cleveland?
Ever since Myles Garrett very publicly requested a trade last offseason, Cleveland Browns fans and NFL pundits alike have theorized all kinds of hypothetical trades bringing back a king's ransom of picks in return.
Then the star edge rusher signed a massive four-year, $160 million deal that, at the time, made him the highest-paid non-QB in the NFL. Any thoughts of trading Garrett immediately evaporated when Garrett put pen to paper.
Trading Garrett after that point would be much too cost-prohibitive for the Browns, with dead cap figures that
A little over a year later, those Hollywood-like blockbuster trades are suddenly back on the table after Cleveland executed a curious contract adjustment.
As Field Yates of ESPN first reported, on Wednesday evening, the Browns amended Garrett's deal to push back the execution date for option bonuses in 2026, 2027 and 2028 to seven days before the start of the regular season. He added that the payment of the option bonuses was also modified to benefit Garrett in some way.
Initially, Garrett's contract previously called for his option bonuses in 2026, 2027 and 2028 to take effect 15 days into the new league year, which was today for the 2026 bonus.
Yates noted that Garrett also had $8 million of his base salary in 2029 and 2030 converted into separate roster bonuses that would be exercised early on in those respective league years.
What's notable from these adjustments is that it delays some major chunks of money due to Garrett, which would have accelerated onto their cap as dead money until much later in each of those years.
These changes don't create any additional cap space in 2026. The flexibility it does create really benefit the Browns above all else and by moving that money around, it creates an avenue where they could theoretically trade Garrett with a much less intrusive financial burden.
That's kind of a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and positions the Browns to almost evaluate what their future alignment is with their biggest star.
Trading Garrett would still have to come after June 1 so the Browns could alleviate the burden of dead cap hits over multiple years instead of absorbing it all at once. There's no June 1 designation for trades, they simply have to happen after June 1.
In the immediate, it feels unlikely a Garrett trade is in the works. But bookmark those imaginary trades that once seemed impossible a couple weeks back.
Browns Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Browns. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our community for free.