Myles Garrett’s trade demands, rumors continue to swirl but how will Browns roster change with NFL free agency?
With the NFL Scouting Combine in the rear view mirror, all of the attention will now shift to NFL free agency. No one knows what the Cleveland Browns are going to do (mainly because the front office doesn’t leak their plans) but it’s clear that the Browns will undergo some form of roster retooling in order to get back into contention.
With DE Myles Garrett not only requesting a trade but potentially threatening to withhold services, things could be turned upside down in Berea.
Here are two predictions of what I believe will happen in Cleveland’s offseason, free agency:
Myles Garrett doesn’t get his wish to be traded.
If I am wrong on this, then so be it. When defensive end Myles Garrett requested to be traded, it was a surprise to everyone. Garrett went to Radio Row during the Super Bowl and was pretty adamant about wanting to go to a contender.
General manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski countered by saying that they expect Garrett to be back in some form of capacity. It’s a staring contest right now and neither side appears to be blinking.
Trading Garrett would be a bad move for two reasons. One, obviously the defense gets worse and they lose one of the best defensive players in the league. Two, from a financial standpoint, trading Garrett before June 1st will trigger a $36 million dollar dead cap hit. It will cause the Browns to essentially blow up their entire salary cap plan (they would have to restructure deals and wouldn’t be able to trade away highly priced ones to start a rebuild) to appease one player. That is something that this front office isn’t unlikely to do.
Being restricted by so much dead cap will affect the team in terms of spending. Garrett has no leverage in this situation so don’t expect Cleveland to cave in any time soon.
Cleveland will retool, not rebuild in order to get back into contention
More of a hunch, but the Browns are looking to retool their roster not rebuild.
Yes, the team won three games last year, but in most of the games Cleveland lost, the team was competitive. The Browns biggest issue was quarterback play and the team will look to address it in free agency.
As far as the rest of the roster goes, it appears Cleveland will retool the roster and make the necessary changes. Whether it’s trading away players or cutting them to clear up cap space, GM Andrew Berry will look to improve the team by any means necessary.
The Browns are not close to winning a Super Bowl anytime soon, but the team can get back into contention for the playoffs by retooling the roster in an aggressive manner. Expect the offensive line to be remade, and expect the defense to look somewhat different than it did last year.
Will Cleveland make a splashy move? Probably not as they will probably not be as active due to the free agency class not being as strong as years prior.