Friday was a rough one for the Cleveland Browns franchise with the Myles Garrett turmoil going a bit further. Garrett’s representation put out a couple of messages through the media, including that he was turned down for a meeting with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam.
From a national perspective, that may be a bad look initially, and that’s what Garrett’s camp’s intentions were. However, Haslam finally did right by following the chain of command and staying out of the way.
All signs point toward the Garrett trade request getting even uglier before it gets better. The star pass rusher intends to potentially miss games, at least that is his stance in early March. Garrett wants to win and that’s how it should be. As ugly as it is right now, the Browns can still right the ship.
Cleveland needs to take a page from the Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders were a bad football team in 2024 as well and their roster was a whole lot worse off than the Browns. Las Vegas had themselves a bit of a disgruntled pass rusher too in Maxx Crosby, who wants to win too. Crosby was recently inked to a mega deal making him the highest-paid defender in the NFL. Not long after that, the Raiders went and got their quarterback of the future.
Trading for Geno Smith may not look like the splashiest of moves, but it is a very good one for the Raiders. Smith has been a terrific quarterback indoors during his career and he should excel with Las Vegas. The one-time journeyman found his footing in Seattle and is in the top half of quarterbacks in the NFL. Las Vegas had a quarterback problem before acquiring Smith and they fixed that. Having that franchise guy can change a lot of things for a team since it is the most important position in the sport. Oftentimes, teams go as their quarterback goes.
The Raiders are still likely to draft a quarterback, just like the Browns will. Cleveland would be smart to add a starting caliber quarterback via free agency or a trade, who can step in Week 1 and be the guy. Cleveland can take the quarterback to develop within their first couple of picks and they would be in no rush to have to get on the field.
Multiple members of the Browns team have come out and said that getting a quarterback could be what is needed to make things right with their star pass rusher. The Raiders just laid out the blueprint that the Browns should be taking note of.