Myles Garrett, the second pick in the NFL draft offer a chance to choose a direction
The Cleveland Browns enter a very strange offseason. With no quarterback, having the second overall pick would normally ensure the next “QB of the future” would be selected there. Not everyone is sure the team should or will go in that direction even with a complimentary comparison and rankings inside the top 12.
Not every analyst has the quarterbacks ranked the same but it seems the Browns could have at least one good option but do GM Andrew Berry and HC Kevin Stefanski have a long enough leash to develop a rookie at the position?
Myles Garrett requesting a trade just added to the weirdness of this offseason. Garrett could fetch a good haul but trading away a difference-maker doesn’t help the team win (which Berry/Stefanski probably need) and there are salary cap implications for Cleveland.
With that, we posed a question for a DBN roundtable: Should the Browns look to rebuild or reload this offseason?
Browns Should Rebuild
Thomas Moore
Cleveland has a clear path to attempt to fix the quarterback situation by selecting one with the No. 2 overall selection in the upcoming NFL Draft. But it may take more than just a quarterback to get the squad back on the right track.
The offensive line is aging and may get worse if Joel Bitonio decides to retire. The running game is completely non-existent and questions remain over Nick Chubb’s future. There is nothing to fear at wide receiver outside of Jerry Jeudy.
The situation is not much better on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive line will take a hit if Myles Garrett is traded away. But even if he stays, Garrett alone can’t make up for the shortcomings elsewhere on the line. The linebacker group is unimpressive without Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, and no one seems to have a clear understanding of whether or not he will play again after suffering a neck injury. The secondary looks good on paper, but it seems like no one can stay healthy enough for the group to become a cohesive unit.
It’s hard to believe that just 13 months after a fun playoff run the Browns are back to potentially take a couple of steps back to once again try to move forward, but it appears to be the current situation.
Everything about the idea of a rebuild stinks, but it might be time to accept that the best course of action is to hit the reset button once again and hope that this time they get it right.
Damon Wolfe
I want to state clearly that I’m not suggesting a tank in 2025 and maintain that it already happened last season and netted the Browns with the second pick overall. With a trade of Myles Garrett, the team could have the equivalent draft capital of what they had in the 2018 draft when they selected Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward, and Nick Chubb.
I don’t know that I have ever had more fun than that season as a fan. Could Cleveland pull off a similar haul by selecting Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders in the top ten and grabbing Kaleb Johnson at the top of the second round?
While additional difficult moves would need to accompany a trade of Garrett, the Browns have more talent than that 2018 squad. Players like Martin Emerson, Mike Hall Jr, Isaiah McGuire, and Dawand Jones have Pro Bowl potential.
Finally, Garrett has been nagged by injuries over the last few years. His foot issues could be a cause for concern in signing him to a massive extension and making him the highest-paid defender in the NFL. I think Cleveland could remain competitive enough to win 6-8 games provided they have a successful draft.
Browns Should Reload
Curtiss Brown
If Cleveland wants to get back into contention, they have to follow the model that two teams in the NFC West did. The Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams were, at one point, considered to be teams that were looking at rebuilding due to the roster moves that they made. However, those teams reloaded their rosters by cutting veterans who were expensive and getting older.
How did they replace them? Younger talent that was cheaper and had higher upsides by the draft or free agency. Seattle has been a 9-10 win team since trading away quarterback Russell Wilson and the Rams were only a few seconds away from making the NFC title game this postseason. Is the Browns Super Bowl window closed? Yes (although the team may never have had one) but their window to contend for a playoff spot is still open.
Yes, this past season wasn’t enjoyable but it shouldn’t mean that they should just give up and start a rebuild. Trading away Myles Garrett would be a bad decision, not only from a team perspective but from a salary cap perspective. Garrett’s dead cap hit would be $36 million, and we aren’t even considering the Deshaun Watson contract which is a handicap on the team. If you trade Garrett, you would essentially have to trade/cut half of your roster and not be competitive for 2 years. It’s not worth going down that path, no matter what people may think.
The Browns aren’t some dysfunctional mess. If anything they have been competent. The New York Jets just went through another regime change, the same goes for the Jacksonville Jaguars. As far as the New York Giants go, paying quarterback Daniel Jones (who isn’t on the team anymore) instead of keeping running back Saquon Barkley seems to be more of a bad decision every single day considering how the Philadelphia Eagles just won the Super Bowl and Barkley having one of the best seasons in his career.
Did Cleveland make a mistake trading for quarterback Deshaun Watson? Yes but at the time they needed to take a swing. They did, but it backfired. That doesn’t mean they should just give up and blow it up. If anything, the team just needs to fix the problem that they got themselves in.
Reload, not rebuild. Make the right decisions in free agency and the draft, and you are back in playoff contention. Retool the offensive and defensive lines, get the quarterback situation right, address the skill position group and go from there.
Matt Wilson
This organization is nowhere near the level of dysfunction that some think it is. Despite the Myles Garrett and quarterback situation, this Browns team is much closer to being a playoff-level team than a bottom-feeder.
The roster is still one of the most talented in the league, and the coaching staff is very promising. I’m confident that Cleveland will be able to find a quarterback who can help lead the team to 10+ wins every year.