The Micah Parsons trade will go down in infamy, but what if Jerry Jones turned around and traded for the only edge rusher in the world who's better than Parsons?
That is suddenly attainable for the Dallas Cowboys after the Cleveland Browns tweaked Myles Garrett's contract, which makes him more movable. All would be forgiven on the Parsons front if Jones landed Garrett, but it's not going to be easy, as Garrett is a future Hall of Famer who's smack in the middle of his prime.
However, ESPN’s Field Yates, who broke the news of Garrett’s revised contract language with Cleveland, clarified that the tweak wasn’t made solely to make him more tradable. (h/t DLLS Cowboys on X).
"The Browns have been steadfast in their stance that they're not trading Myles Garrett. And that's not the only benefit to doing this. It doesn't just make him more tradable.
There's some ways in which it creates flexibility for Cleveland going forward. This is always one of the busier teams in terms of tinkering with the cap. They have a very, very, very rich owner, so they can afford to pay a lot of cash to players up front to reduce their cap hits as much as possible."
Field Yates threw some cold water on the Dallas Cowboys' hopes of trading for Myles Garrett
Yates made a salient point about the Browns being one of the more proactive teams as far as tinkering with the salary cap. The franchise is close to getting out from under Deshaun Watson's contract, and the amended terms of Garrett's deal provide added flexibility in the future.
On top of pushing back Garrett's option bonuses in 2026, 2027, and 2028 to seven days before the regular season each year, Cleveland converted $8 million of Garrett's base salary in 2029 and 2030 into roster bonuses early in each league year.
All of that said, Yates admitted that the move got the NFL's attention.
"Their eyebrows are, of course, going to be raised when they see a move like this ... Just speaking practically, the door was basically closed on Myles Garrett being traded in 2026. The door is open now.
... It was just something that caught the attention of people around the NFL, even though I truly don't believe that the Browns have any plans whatsoever to trade Myles Garrett. Other teams just interpreted this move that he is now more movable if Cleveland's stance ever changed."
Yates did a lot of hedging there, and understandably so. He never reported that the Browns are open for business. He simply reported the terms of the revised contract.
However, NFL history is full of teams moving off their stance that a player isn't for sale. There isn't a Cowboys fan alive who thought trading Micah Parsons was a possibility when the 2024 season ended.
The Las Vegas Raiders had no intention of trading Maxx Crosby. The New York Giants said they didn't sign Odell Beckham Jr. to trade him before sending him to Cleveland. The list goes on.
Just because the Browns are dug in on March 26 doesn’t mean they’ll feel the same way three months from now, when teams (hopefully Dallas) come calling with a haul of draft picks.
Yates acknowledged that the door is open, and that's all that matters for the Cowboys.
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