At the end of the Cleveland Browns' 2024 season, star defensive lineman Myles Garrett was pretty open about the fact that he was not happy with the direction things were going. He even mused about a potential trade that would have him continuing his career elsewhere.
A couple weeks later, it seems like that frustration has receded, and he has more confidence in where the Browns are going. He said he spoke with general manager Andrew Berry about the situation.
"How we gonna make the most of all the talent that is here?" Garrett said in Tuesday's episode of "Hard Knocks," via NFL Media. We're closer than some may think we are."
Berry, meanwhile, seemed like he was on the same page with his star. "We share in this frustration," Berry said, also on "Hard Knocks." "I didn't get the job done this year, quite plainly."
The reality is, the Browns traded the farm for a quarterback who has no business being under center for an NFL team, and it will continue to hamstring them until his contract runs its course. Whether that's Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski's fault or ownership's fault, it doesn't really matter. The trade was a disaster and the Browns are paying the price.
The only way for them to be a winning team now is to massively over-perform at the other positions, where they have to acquire talent on the (relative) cheap due to their cap situation. But that's easier said than done.
As Berry said, "Everyone wants to know how we can get out of the rut that we're in and get back to winning games and making a run instead of making plans."