What Myles Garrett’s contract means for his trade demand

With word coming down Monday that Cleveland Browns star pass rusher Myles Garrett has requested a trade, two things have come to the forefront; 1) What is the trade package going to look like and 2) How much is it going to cost financially?

Let’s take a look at the financials of Garrett’s current contract, what he is expected to make in a new deal, and all the salary cap ramifications of the moves.

Myles Garrett’s current contract numbers

Garrett has no guaranteed money left on the final two years of his contract. He’s currently due $20 million in 2025 and $25 million in 2026, but the majority of both are paid in March of those years as bonuses with him making the veteran minimum in base salary.

In 2025, that means $1.255 million is base salary and nearly $18.5 million is paid out in a roster bonus in March. The contract is set up to prorate the bonuses over the next five years. In 2026, it’s set up similarly with $1.3 million in base salary and $19 million in roster bonus which would spread out over five years.

What contract would the new team inherit after trading for Myles Garrett?

The new team would take on the exact same contract, with $1.255 million is base salary and nearly $18.5 million is paid out in a roster bonus in March. That would make his cap hit less than $5 million for the 2025 season on the new team.

In 2026, it’s set up nearly identically with $1.3 million in base salary and $19 million in roster bonus which would spread out over five years. His cap hit would slightly more than double from $5 million-ish to $11 million-ish thanks to the 2025 proration added onto the 2026 number.

Then the dead cap hit in 2027 would be the remainder of the money that hadn’t been accounted for yet for a total of around $25 million in dead cap. Except, that won’t be the case…

Myles Garrett will get a new contract as part of the trade

As we saw with the Haason Reddick trade last year, whoever trades for Garrett (and Garrett himself) would want a new deal in place prior to the trade being executed to ensure everyone is happy. Garrett has no guaranteed money left on his contract, something that at a minimum would be rectified immediately.

The top of the pass rusher market is Nick Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers, who makes $34 million per season. If I’m Garrett’s agent, I don’t settle for any less than that. Let’s say four years, $140 million with $77 million to $90 million of that fully guaranteed.

What kind of cap space will the new team need to trade for Myles Garrett?

Anyone can trade for him now, the cap space isn’t an issue because he’s already been paid everything he’s going to be paid in 2024. Since he’s currently set to automatically be paid using an option bonus, his 2025 cap hit under his current deal is only $5 million to the new team — not $20 million. (It’s one year of the five-year prorated roster bonus plus the base salary.) Every team in the NFL can swing that by the start of the league year, but not every team can give him a massive extension we previously discussed.

What is the deadline for a Myles Garrett trade?

The Browns will need to pay Garrett his large $18.5 million bonus on the fifth day of the league year, which is March 16th. While that would result in his trade value going up considerably, it would really hurt the Browns who are already cap-strapped thanks to the worst contract in NFL history.

Raiders QB Derek Carr was famously asked to defer his bonus date so Las Vegas could have more time to find a trade partner and said no. Garrett has all the leverage here. The best-case scenario for him is to be released to he can negotiate with everyone in the league, so putting pressure on Cleveland to make a deal doesn’t hurt him.

What are the cap implications for the Browns with a Myles Garrett trade or release?

The Browns would have some cap issues moving on from Garrett. His dead cap hit after a trade or release would be more than $36 million, but Cleveland has shown they have no problem pushing cap hits into the future and would do that again with other players to make it work.

A post-June 1 cut would keep his $19.7 million cap hit in place until June 2, when a large portion of that would move to the 2026 cap. They can’t do the same move with a trade because of the March option bonus, as there is no mechanism in place for a post-June 1 trade other than just waiting. If they trade him, his 2025 cap hit is $36 million.