Leading up to the season finale, with the Browns out of the playoffs again, Myles Garrett didn’t hold back on what he wants to see next year. “I want things to be successful, however that looks,” Garrett told reporters on Friday. He clearly wants to win more, and he’s tired of being labeled a loser.
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Every football fan knows that Garrett is the one good apple among a host of rotten ones within the Browns organization. He regularly puts up superstar seasons and will one day go down as a Hall of Famer because of it. He just broke the NFL sack record on Sunday, while his team ended the season 5-12.
In fact, the Browns have gone 54-79-1 over the course of Garrett’s nine-year career. That’s why frustration is boiling over from the defensive stalwart, once again going into the offseason. And that’s the issue Bill Simmons has with Garrett. He says Garrett made his bed last year when he signed the 4-year, $160 million deal, and now he has to lie in it.
“They’ve been schmucks for a quarter of a century; you knew this when you took the money. You don’t get to say anything now. Just shut up, dude,” Simmons said on his podcast.
They were harsh remarks coming from the Boston sports analyst. But that’s what Simmons is known for. He’s not going to dress up his analysis with unnecessary praise or fodder. Instead, he opts for telling the cold, hard truth.
Furthermore, as harsh as he sounds, Simmons is right. Garrett requested a trade last offseason and had the opportunity to find greener pastures and compete for a championship. But he decided to walk back that decision and signed the largest non-NFL contract in league history for Cleveland.
It’s not like Garrett didn’t know about his team’s incompetence before signing the deal. He spent the first 8 years of his career in The Forest City. As much as he may not want to admit it, he sold out for a massive payday, and he will have to accept the fact that he tied himself to a struggling franchise for possibly the rest of his prime.
For now, the Browns defender will have to sit tight and hope the front office makes the team competitive this offseason. With an elite defense, they don’t feel too far from a winning season. At the same time, however, they just fired former Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski, leaving the team’s future up in the air.
