Browns DE Myles Garrett Committed To Winning, Not Rebuilding

At 4-12, the Browns are about to wrap up a second straight season in which they’ll finish closer to 32nd overall than a playoff spot. Cleveland has gone 7-26 since 2024, and despite Garrett’s presence, the team has posted a sub-.500 record in seven of the future Hall of Famer’s nine seasons.

When he requested a trade last February, Garrett stated: “The goal was never to go from Cleveland to Canton, it has always been to compete for and win a Super Bowl. With that in mind, I have requested to be traded from the Cleveland Browns.”

Garrett’s long-term agreement with Cleveland came together just weeks later. On the field, he hasn’t taken his foot off the gas since then. On the contrary, with 22 sacks through 16 games, Garrett is one away from setting the single-season all-time record (albeit in one more game than Michael Strahan and two more than T.J. Watt). He’s also a strong bet to win Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second time.

Despite Garrett’s brilliance, the Browns continue to look unlikely to contend in the near term. The 30-year-old made it clear on Friday that he is not interested in participating in a rebuild (via Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com).

“I quote Maxx (Crosby),” Garrett said. “I’m committed to winning and as long as the team and the organization are doing so — they’re committed to that same thing — then I’m all on board. But if we’re thinking anything other than winning — tanking or rebuilding — it’s not me.”

As a star defensive lineman on a bottom-feeding team, the Raiders’ Crosby is in a similar position to Garrett. Crosby has made it clear that winning is the main goal, but he nonetheless joined Garrett in signing an extension last offseason. It remains to be seen whether either will request a trade this winter.

The Browns have a more pressing matter to deal with in deciding head coach Kevin Stefanski‘s future in the coming days. Garrett and the Browns have gone to the playoffs twice under Stefanski, who won Coach of the Year in both instances, but his job status is up in the air. Cleveland could be searching for a new coach as early as next week.

Garrett said there have “more downs than ups” in six years under Stefanski. Evidenced by Stefanski’s 44-56 record, Garrett isn’t wrong.

That’s not to suggest Garrett is calling for Stefanski’s ouster, though, as he added: “I don’t know what the future holds, whether it’s with him or anything else. I’m going to look forward to playing under whoever it is. Be happy to be here and being a Brown regardless.”

To keep Garrett content, the Browns will likely need to commit to major improvements on offense. The unit, which sits 31st in the NFL in scoring, has offset a second-ranked defense. Reuniting with veteran quarterback Joe Flacco in free agency last offseason appeased Garrett, according to Cabot. However, after a 1-4 start to the year, the Browns dealt Flacco to the Bengals.

Discussing the Flacco trade, Garrett said: “If we’re going to trade Joe away, then we’ve got to find a way to win games regardless of who’s back there and haven’t done it enough. I see a couple rookies that continue to grow, but it was interesting. But we’re here now.”

The Browns haven’t found a clear solution at quarterback in third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel, Flacco’s initial successor, or fifth-round rookie Shedeur Sanders. While Sanders has performed better than Gabriel since taking over in Week 12, he’s hardly a lock to start in 2026. Neither is veteran Deshaun Watson, who will miss the entire 2025 season while recovering from a ruptured Achilles. Watson’s four-year run in Cleveland has been a disaster, but with an onerous contract, he’ll likely remain in the organization for another season.

Gabriel, Sanders and Watson will enter the offseason as candidates to start in 2026, though the Browns could add to the group in free agency and/or the draft. With two first-round picks, including a potential top five selection, they may find a potential franchise signal-caller in April. How the Browns handle the position will be of great interest to Garrett, who “will undoubtedly want to know what the future” holds at QB, Cabot writes.

Despite the Browns’ ongoing struggles, general manager Andrew Berry is likely to remain in his post in 2026. If Berry doesn’t convince Garrett he has the answers, the seven-time Pro Bowler could emerge as a key figure in the rumor mill for the second straight offseason.