So much for Browns defensive end Myles Garrett demanding a trade to a Super Bowl contender.
After a month in which Garrett requested a trade and the Browns said he wasn’t going anywhere, an agreement has been reached: Garrett will sign a new contract with the Browns that makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The full details of the contract are not yet known, but it reportedly includes $123.5 million guaranteed and will pay him an average of $40 million a year.
Garrett’s trade request gave him leverage with the Browns, who didn’t want to lose their best player but recognized he wasn’t happy. Giving a player $123.5 million guaranteed is a good way to make him happy.
The question, though, is whether anything has changed with Garrett’s stance that his biggest goal is to win a Super Bowl. The Browns do not look particularly close to that. With the 29-year-old Garrett now apparently planning to play out his prime in Cleveland, either he thinks the team is closer to a turnaround than it appears, or he is accepting that if the Browns can’t make him a champion, they can make him rich.
