Transcript of Where will Myles Garrett get traded?

Welcome to NFL Daily, where we cannot believe the season is over. One week from right now, I'm Greg Rosenthal in my garage talking to my friend Jordan Rodriegue of The Athletic in setting up what is going to be an awesome week. We are not heading down to New Orleans, Jordan, until Tuesday, so we'll have some fun today. We got some news, we got some all pros to talk about, and we'll have fun tonight as well.

Yes, we're not heading down to New Orleans yet because we have a very good cause to champion tonight, you, me, a couple of big-time guests on the live taping of the Mina Kimes. And to be clear, other people are the big-time guests. It's you, me, and then the big-time guests on the Mina Kymes show featuring Lenny at the Balasco, which I still cannot freaking believe that we're getting to be on that stage. And Kobe Turner is going to take the stage at the Balasco, all four wildfire relief efforts, 100% of the funds raised tonight. It will be Monday night in Los Angeles. We'll go to fire relief efforts, and Omaha Productions is matching all of it, too, which is really rock star.

Yeah, there's also a Kobe Turner Jersey, which the NFL has chipped in, which is a game-worn Jersey from the playoff appearance. So yeah, if you're hearing this on Monday, it is not too late to head downtown. A little foggy here in Los Angeles on Monday. Stay warm. Come with us. Have It'll be outstanding. And this show is going to be fun, too. But we have to start the show talking about Miles Garrett. Monday morning, Miles Garrett sees Luka Donchik traded to the Lakers. The next day, it's Dieran Fox is going with Wemby in San Antonio. And I'm thinking, Man, this NBA Trade Deadline, it's going to dominate the whole lead up to the Super Bowl. And Miles Garrett, he's got our back. He releases a statement through Ian Rappaport. That's at least where I saw it first on Monday morning, that he wants to be traded from the Cleveland Browns, saying that his goal in his career was not to go from Cleveland to Canton. It is to win champions ships along the way, and he wants to do that somewhere other than the Browns. A lot of directions we can go here, Jordan, but do you think it's realistic that it actually happens?

For some context, the Brown's GM, Andrew Berry, said just last week, maybe since this was coming, that we do not plan to trade Miles Garrett. We do not want to trade Miles Garrett, and that he could have a contract coming up in his future. Miles Garrett apparently does not want that contract, at least not right now.

Yeah. To peel back the curtain a little bit, too, something like this does come up to a general manager when local reporters, people on the beat, the beat reporters there in Cleveland, catch a whiff of some unsettling situation and then take the opportunity. The first time they'll really get an availability with the GM all offseason is at the Senior Bowl. And this is where this conversation took place, where he was asked, including by my colleague, Zack Jackson, about whether or not they would ever consider trading Miles Garrett. And even if there were two first round pics on the table and Andrew Berry said, No, we're not doing it.

We'll never do it. Wow, I didn't know that, that they even gave him the two first- Yeah, and that was Zack my colleague at the Athletic.

And so that's the context of why that bubbled up. And so now, as a response or a reaction, Miles Garrett and his camp clearly have had this planned or in the works, and then, I think, release a very nice statement about what this means and what this really is for him, and requesting a trade and alerting the team. Now, it could get not nice in a hurry, Greg. And that's where I think you have to be really careful if you're the Browns, because if your star player and one of the faces of the NFL, one of the best players, pass rushers we've ever seen, is going to get contentious in this or going to stay in this path and be adamant about this. If it's not just a I need you to change these things or else I'm going, a veiled threat. If it's a real, legitimate thing, then this could get messy in a hurry, and the next few weeks are going to be absolutely nuts.

Well, him releasing the statement that clearly I think, puts it past that point where it's messy. He's putting it out this week because he knows this is the time of year big trades could potentially happen is really leading into the free agency period. We've seen quarterbacks get traded during this week or agreed to trade during this week. Yes, Stafford, Cousins. And so, Gareth's that level of player, and the trade is big enough that it could take a month to get going, and it will be a talking point unless something changes until free agency starts. Now, I think it could be very difficult for the Browns to do it because it does not help them financially. If they traded him, they would actually take a cap hit this year in addition to the dead money to trade him away. Yeah, you're taking that short term pain now, but it's getting rid of a player you're not planning to get rid of because they just renegotiated his contract, in part because of the Deshaun Watson mess right before the 2023 season. It'd be painful to let him go. If they traded him after June first, they would actually get a little bit of cap relief, like $5 million in cap relief, and they could spread the hits out.

But again, you wouldn't have Miles Garrett in that timeline probably doesn't work for the other teams out there. They're one of the teams that does not have any cap room. Now, you can always make room. And the Watson contract has some insurance loopholes that I do not want to even get into. And there's other contracts They're going to be able to move their contracts around, but they are not a team that has a ton of space to suddenly get worse. I don't know if they're really having an appetite to get worse. Their solution might be to just offer Miles Garrett a ton of money, even more money, make him the highest paid defensive player in the league again. That's, to me, question number one, because I have to imagine they'll do that because I don't think they will want to trade him. Maybe you disagree because there is an argument, Jordan, that actually this is the perfect time to trade him. He's been there seven years. It's not like they haven't gotten amazing value at him. He is still playing as a defensive player of the year level. I think he might win the award this week.

If he doesn't, he's one of the finalists. He'll be in the top couple. But he is about to turn 30 next year. And his value is so high right now that what could you get for him? Could you get a first plus? Could you get two firsts for him? If you're a Browns team that's probably not contending this year, you have to at least think about it because are you going to be good by the time Miles Garrett starts aging? Are you going to be good in the meantime? Probably not. If you're getting possibly two firsts for Miles Garrett, maybe you do think about it. Where would you like to see him possibly go, or do you have any ones you just want to throw out there?

Well, I wanted to get further back in your sentence there and it I'll address another point that you made where, to me, it is organizational malpractice the way that they've had this guy on their roster and have not maximized the roster, and in fact, done quite the opposite. This one move of going out and acquiring Deshaun Watson and using the pics that they did, only for him to just be a bad football player, and that's not even touching the entire rest of the mess surrounding Deshaun Watson, but just to be a bad football player and to creator the potential of that roster and to creator the potential of a player of that caliber, where you're supposed to be the franchise face, and instead, the only conversation around your team as a brand is this mess that they've made. So I think this is multi-layer, if I'm Miles Garrett. It's like you're supposed to be the cornerstone and the face of this organization, and instead, everything else around this team has only been, A, plummeting your potential, and B, plummeting you as a brand because that's all anyone wants to talk about. And I'm not saying that's the most important thing, but it's like you want to go somewhere where you are going to be, A, valued in the sense that a team is going to win with you and around you.

And also, you want to go win a Super Bowl. And he said that as plainly as he possibly could in his statement. And I don't see any aspect of this Browns' roster with the mess that they've created over the next couple of years that is capable or even possible of contending for a deep postseason run, let alone the Super Bowl. And so I think when you're looking at a couple of teams that might have interest and might do whatever it takes, because this is going to be a whatever it takes trade. If he's available, if they're actually answering your phone call, because they've been adamant that they won't. If they're actually answering your phone call, you do whatever you can. You shake out every mattress, you shake You shake out every mattress you have. You look under the cushions of every sofa in the building, and you shake down whatever you can to get this guy in your building. And so I think it's a Buffalo Bill's question, honestly. I think that... You know what? I'm not going roll out, I think it could be a Kansas City Chief's question. I know.

Two teams without a ton of cap room. The bills actually are $13 million over the cap as we speak. Now, they are, of course, like every team, you're going to be able to move things around. You They're always move things around. You can always move things around. They're going to restructure Josh Allen. There's other people that they can cut. But there are other teams that can do it more easily than the bills, for sure.

Yeah. The San Francisco 49ers, I see, as a team. And by the way, I want to point out, I mentioned this to you and Mina the other day is I don't think the Raiders think that they're going to take seven years to build up this roster. I think they're going to, with Pete Carroll on the three-year deal, I think they're going to make some moves this offseason. And so I think that that should be on the table. Detroit should be on the table for a possible Miles-Garrett trade. Really, it's easier to ask who would never do it. Right. That's true. Because it's Miles freaking Garrett. What are you doing, Cleveland?

God. Well, they're probably not doing anything, or they're not trying to do anything. But I tried to think of historical precedence for these types of movies, just to think about the- You mean the NBA one that happened three days ago? No. I mean, that one, that is next level. That was wild. It There is no precedent for that in the NFL. Let's be real. The closest I could come up with was if you combined the two Khalil Mack trades and made it in between. Because the first Khalil Mack trade, he wasn't as good a player as Garrett, but after four years, the way people thought about him, he wasn't on a totally different planet. That was a crazy deal. Two first, a ton of seconds, more than that. If that was after four years in the league, A 25-year-old. That's a little different. Then the next Khalil Mack trade is actually closer to where Garrett is, but at that point, Mack was not nearly the same player. That was after eight years in the league, and there was much less return. Richard Seymour got traded around the same age after eight years in the league, future Hall of Famer, but had even maybe just started his downturn, which Garrett hasn't.

They got a top 15 pick for Richard Seymour. John Abraham was a trade where they got a first four. Jared Allen, people forget, that was a blockbuster trade from the Chiefs to the Vikings, where they got a first, a couple of thirds. And again, they were a little younger. I think the fact that Garrett is better than all these players maybe makes up for the fact that he's a little older than most of them. And if Richard Seymour, around the same age, is getting a first-run pick, and I know this is 20 years ago, the league has changed, but you just said it. It's Miles freaking Garrett and Mike Tannenbaum, who was running a team and was just helping team hire a coach. He was on get up this year saying at the trade deadline, he would give up three first, three seconds, literally everything if he was the lines to do it. I don't think it's going to cost that, but I think a couple of teams could be willing to. Some came to mind. The Raiders, I agree with. They have 90 million in cap space, and the Patriots have 130, and Mike Vrabel was in Cleveland's building last year.

But if he wants to win a championship, how does that make any sense if you're Miles Gary? It doesn't to me. I thought Commanders are up there with an There's a insane amount of cap space. The lions have a ton of cap space, and they've shown that they'll be aggressive. This doesn't feel like a packer's move, but they have plenty of space. The chargers, I think, are going to be very much in go now mode, and they have a boatload of cap space. I don't know Both Khalil Mack or Joey Bosa is on that team next year. That's a possibility. The bills come to mind. They made that move for Von Miller. It didn't really work out. They would be a little tougher financially to make it all work because I think if you're trading for them, you're giving them a new contract, too. You're right, though, that there's almost more teams. Because when you look at the cap space, it's one of my favorite things I just repeat every… There's way too much cap space out there. I mean, there's like 15 teams with more than $40 million in cap space. There's seven or eight teams with over 60.

What are you going to do with all that cap space? There's not enough good players out there. You don't have enough good players on your team. So someone should back up the brinks track, make Andrew Berry say no.

And a little known fact, very little node fact about the way that the spending stipulations work in the NFL. Every three years, you have to hit a minimum spending threshold. So yes, to your point, Greg, every team that has money, go get Come on, get him out of there. We want good things for Miles Garrett. We may never see another player like him, and he's just excellent. He is joy. Go bring him joy. That's why I like the commanders, because I'm like, I was thinking about this, obviously, just from what would make me really happy To see Miles Garrett and Dan Quinn, and Jaden Daniels and how much fun they would all have. See Miles Garrett in front of my player, Frankie Louvou, just wrecking stuff with Jeremy Chin behind him. I mean, my God, that would be impeccable. Impeccable vibes all around.

They have $78 million in cap space. They have Jaden Daniels, their quarterback on the books for cheap for the next few years. Them, the Chargers, and the Lions felt the most realistic of teams that would actually to do it and have the space and make sense. The 49ers would be in that mix as well for me, but I really don't think the Browns are going to want to. If nothing else, all they've had over the last 20 years, other than that one playoff win, which was with Kevin Stefansky, is Joe Thomas and Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett doesn't want to be the next Joe Thomas. But I think the Browns are like, We have an all-time great. Our fans are going to desert us. They're going to start bringing coffins to the arena like Mavericks fans doing after the Luka trade.

Last question, Greg. So the Browns do not... I said the Braggs. The Browns do not want to do this. They've made that clear. Obviously, that will only up the asking price. If you're the Browns and someone puts a quarterback on the table, a starting caliber quality quarterback on the table. Do you make the move?

Just thinking out loud. I'd think about it because Because Garrett wants out and because of what I said about the perfect time of it all. The combination of his eight... He will get worse at some point, and he has to be at the tail end of his prime. He hasn't shown anything. But if you could get a quarterback plus, that's the reason why Miles Garrett wants to leave. Now, he might be like, You haven't had a quarterback this whole time. Now, who would that be? Matthew Stafford, obviously, comes to mind. Like a Sam Darnold plus a first-round pick. You It starts getting interesting, I think, if you're the Browns, yes, if you can, and you're not in love with Shadr Sanders or Cam Ward, especially, that you could plug a couple of holes, not give up, you'd have your number two overall pick and maybe get better fast. I like where you're going. That's pretty good. All right. I'm looking forward to NFL Honors. That is Thursday night. I'm looking forward to tonight downtown at the Belasco Theater. Again, if you're listening to this on Monday, it's not too late. If you're in the LA area and all the tickets will go to a great cause supporting wildfire relief efforts.

Thank you, Jordan. I will see you tonight. I'll also see you on Tuesday because we're on the same plane, but I will see you on air on Wednesday. Hit the music. Let's get out of here. Thanks, Jordan. Tuesday's show, and there will be a show, will be done at the Chris Westling podcast studio with my friend Patrick Clavon. Might try to get another guest here before I go and get on that plane. We're just two days away from getting on that plane. You know football is back.