Myles Garrett holds on to dream of playing entire career in Cleveland

DE Myles Garrett had always planned on playing his entire NFL career for the team that drafted him.

He has played the first eight years of his NFL career with the Browns after they selected him as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He’ll play the next five seasons in Cleveland following his contract extension that runs through the 2030 season.

“I’ve always wanted to end my career here,” Garrett said. “The team I started with, I wanted to end with. And with the contract now, that’ll likely be how things go for as long as they’ll have me. I’m glad to be here, and I’m glad to have supported Cleveland.”

As Garrett sat behind the podium on March 14 to speak on the historic contract extension, Garrett also addressed the trade request he made on Feb. 3, and how over the following month, his mindset shifted to come to the agreement on the 4-year contract extension.

“Just having constant communication with the team, with (Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry) and just management in general,” Garrett said. “Talking about the plans and the future of this team, and how we can turn this around and turn Cleveland into a winner as soon as possible.”

Following the end of a disappointing 2024 season in which the Browns went 3-14, Garrett completed the standard exit interviews with the front office. Berry had said at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine the organization was aware of the possibility of the request following the season because of conversations they had with Garrett and his camp.

Even after the trade request and the offseason continued, both sides continued to have discussions. Through those conversations, Garrett said they talked about the plans for the future of the Browns; over time, those plans were developed and reinforced as different moves happened around the league and the outlook on the draft has taken shape.

But Garrett didn’t just have discussions with the…