Tempering expectations?
As the Philadelphia Eagles continue to be linked to Cleveland Browns star pass rusher Myles Garrett in trade rumors, one NFL insider is seemingly throwing cold water on the possibility.
Ian Rapoport had the following to say on Wednesday morning’s episode of Good Morning Football:
First of all, from the Browns’ situation with Myles Garrett, they do not intend to trade Myles Garrett. I think they’ve made that very clear when teams have called them. That is something that has been evident, they’ve said it privately and publicly. Could that change down the road? Could that change if he really is saying ‘I’m not going to play for this team’? Maybe. We’ve seen things happen. But, as of right now, very, very firmly the Browns are saying ‘We are not trading Myles Garrett.’
And as far as the Philadelphia Eagles go, yes, they’ve paid a lot of money to their own guys. All of their best players are locked in on huge deals, from Saquon [Barkley] to Jalen [Hurts] to A.J. Brown to DeVonta Smith, there are many of them. Even though they cleared some cap space yesterday, here’s what I want to point out: if the Eagles were going to take on a huge contract for Myles Garrett, and if he gets traded anywhere, he’s going to be the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL, no doubt about it. In order to take on that contract, they would have to get rid of other very big contracts of their own. Even the Eagles can’t just fit everybody they want.
I would be very surprised if this happened. It is a great rumor, it’s a great rumor. But I’d be very surprised if this happened.
Some thoughts on this:
- I suppose it’s possible he changes his mind but Garrett seems pretty intent on being traded.
- Even if the Browns were willing to trade Garrett, they’d have to act like they weren’t in order to maintain leverage.
- The guess here is that the Browns will ultimately forced to cave and trade Garrett.
- The part about the Eagles having to “get rid of other very big contracts” and that they “can’t just fit everybody they want” seems similar to the sentiments shared by Dianna Russini in her reporting on Philly’s interest in Garrett last week. The read here is that Howie Roseman is trying to temper expectations. Especially when he also said this at the NFL Combine (via PHLY’s Zach Berman):
“Obviously, any time that you’re talking about giving up a high pick and a lot of money for a player, it’s also got to fit where you are as a team. It’s got to fit where you are from a cap perspective. All those things have to match up. And so we look at all those. There’s a lot of attractive items out there. And we spend a lot of time talking about every position and every good player, and we’re selfish. We want everyone. But at the end of the day, it’s just not the position we’re in right now.”
- I suspect Roseman will try to make a Garrett trade happen. But I also suspect he knows it’s not likely and he doesn’t want Eagles fans to merely assume Garrett will wind up in Philly.
