CLEVELAND, OH – NOVEMBER 14, 2019: Defensive end Myles Garrett #95 of the Cleveland Browns rushes the line of scrimmage in the first quarter of a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 14, 2019 at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland won 21-7. (Photo by: 2019 Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Browns have to hurry up and pay Myles Garrett now despite his problematic behavior.
Compared to just about any other position in football, it’s hard to find a team that regrets selecting a pass-rusher with a first-round pick. Sure, the Browns took Myles Garrett No. 1 overall in a draft that produced Patrick Mahomes, Christian McCaffrey, and Deshaun Watson, but 30.5 sacks in 37 games speaks for itself. On the field, the man has been every bit of the slam dunk he was purported to be coming out of Texas A&M.
Except on that one Thursday night against the Steelers in November when he grabbed Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet and swung it at him like a bludgeon, earning an indefinite suspension.
He’s since been reinstated, but man who uses equipment as a weapon might not be the one you want to award with a record-setting contract. But in the case of the Browns, they have every reason to hurry up and get a massive extension done with Garrett sooner rather than later, full stop.
Before the market for edge rushers gets out of hand, the Browns have every reason to give Myles Garrett a record-setting contract extension
Myles Garrett getting record money from the Cleveland Browns makes sense
Currently, the highest-paid edge master in the NFL is Chicago’s Khalil Mack, who owns a six-year, $141 million deal, good for a $23.5 million average annual value. As a former No. 1 pick with Pro Bowl and All-Pro credentials, Garrett — who has two seasons left on his rookie deal — will insist that Mack’s deal is below the floor of what he himself deserves.
But that’s not the key reason Cleveland ought to make haste. Rather, it’s the fact that fellow star pass rusher Joey Bosa contract are currently in a contract year right now. Yannick Ngakoue is on the franchise tag awaiting a massive deal. TJ Watt is on the same timeline as Garrett. Leighton Vander Esch and Nick Bosa will get the bag themselves in short order.
Point blank, Cleveland has to make Garrett an extremely rich man before the market gets reset over and over again to the point of threatening their cap flexibility for years to come.
At the very least, Browns franchise legend Joe Thomas is certainly on board.
That’s not nothing, folks.
One isn’t wrong to question Garrett’s character after what he did on that fateful Thursday night against the Steelers, but his production as a player is simply beyond doubt. Whether they totally like it or not, the Browns have no real reason to delay putting this man’s name into the record books with a show-stopper of an extension.