Browns insider expands on why Myles Garrett didn't go through with threat after trade request

Some within the NFL community insisted that All-Pro pass-rusher Myles Garrett could forfeit money by sitting regular-season games out if the Cleveland Browns didn't trade him by Week 1 of the 2025 campaign. 

However, the situation changed when Garrett agreed to a massive four-year, $160M extension that included $123.5M guaranteed. This made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history to stay with the Browns for the foreseeable future. 

In a piece published Wednesday, Browns insider Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer explained why Garrett ended his standoff well before the 2025 NFL Draft on April 24. 

"Garrett didn’t want to hold out and cause all the controversy that would follow that move," Pluto wrote. "...Garrett knows guys who hold out and miss regular-season games often lose credibility with their teammates if their trade request fails and they return. Those holdouts miss minicamps and training camp and the hard work put in by other players — who honored their contracts."

Garrett was under contract through the 2026 season via a deal that didn't include a no-trade clause when he made it known ahead of Super Bowl LIX that he wanted to feature for an advertised championship contender. It now seems Garrett realized after he was reportedly told by Browns owner Jimmy Haslam "to talk to" general manager Andrew Berry about the trade request that no deal was imminent. 

Pluto also hinted that Deshaun Watson's move from the Houston Texans to the Browns in March 2022 helped convince Garrett to commit to a short-term future with the AFC North side via the extension, which has a no-trade clause. 

"He had three years left on his Houston contract," Pluto wrote about Watson. "He told the Browns, 'You give me a new record-breaking deal or I veto the trade.'" 

Of course, the Browns ultimately gave Watson a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M deal that is now widely viewed as one of the worst contracts in North American professional sports history. 

Ultimately, Berry and Co. were right to assume Garrett would cave sooner rather than later. Haslam was always willing to make Garrett the league's highest-paid defensive player, and the 29-year-old was essentially taken off the market before the legal tampering portion of free agency opened this past Monday.