Why this Browns, Myles Garrett trade scenario may now be 'off the board'

Whispers surfaced ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft suggesting that the Cleveland Browns could spend a top-tier pick on a pass-rusher so that the club could trade defensive star Myles Garrett at some point after June 1 of this year. 

The Browns did not go down such a route during the actual player-selection process. For his latest mailbag, team reporter Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand touched upon how Garrett's short-term future may be impacted by what the Browns did and didn't do from the evening of April 23 through this past Saturday.

Do Browns, Myles Garrett have an understanding regarding the start of the 2026 season? 

"Without drafting an edge-rusher," Grossi wrote about the Browns, "I now believe the Garrett trade speculation takes a break. I think a post-June 1 trade is probably off the board."

Before the draft, Browns general manager Andrew Berry insisted that the relationship involving the club and Garrett was "great" even though Garrett skipped the early portion of the team’s voluntary offseason program. However, Browns head coach Todd Monken then raised some eyebrows when he said last week that he had not yet spoken in person with Garrett since Cleveland hired Monken earlier this winter. 

Garrett signed a four-year, $160M extension last offseason, but he may want another pay raise after he became a two-time Defensive Player of the Year Award winner. Earlier this month, Will Anderson Jr. of the Houston Texans reset the market for players at the position when he inked a three-year, $150M extension that reportedly included $134M guaranteed and a no-trade clause.

When could speculation about the Browns trading Myles Garrett heat back up?

Grossi thinks that trade speculation regarding Garrett's future "will heat up prior to the Week 10 trade deadline if the Browns’ record is not good" this coming fall. Garrett made it known in February 2025 that he wanted to feature for a contender, and he was more recently linked with the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks before the 2026 draft. 

Of course, it's impossible to say in the closing days of April if any of those clubs would make an all-in move to land Garrett ahead of this year's trade deadline.