CLEVELAND, Ohio – A newborn can wear a Myles Garrett T-shirt through first grade. You there, clinging to the limit of your 30s: The Browns’ 40th birthday tickets will include the opportunity to see Garrett live. Anyone looking for future hope in the midst of this pandemic present? The Browns’ best player joined Cleveland during the 2026 season.
It’s seven more years for Garrett. That’s so long, if you go back seven years Browns, the head coach was Rob Chudzinski and the starting quarterback was Jason Campbell.
Of course, this means that Garrett is coming to the end of his new extension, a five-year deal that will begin after his rookie contract runs out after 2021. But that’s what we’ll assume, that Garrett will be 31 years old here on the 29th. from December. , 2026, late in his 10th year with the Browns, like the next Joe Thomas, Ozzie Newsome, or Clay Matthews. He’ll be the kind of player Browns fans live and grow with, and maybe even win.
He is now the highest paid defensive player in the league, but this contract does not mean he must be the best defensive player in the league. Free agency in Cleveland is a “love the person you’re with” proposal, and if Garrett is, let’s say, the NFL’s seventh-best defensive player in the next three to four years, is anyone really going to complain? of money? He is here, keep him here. But he is also Myles Garrett. Have you seen that boy He is torn. And good.
Garrett cannot lead the Browns to a Super Bowl by himself. It’s fun on a day like this to imagine him leading a championship parade (Will you put on a shirt or take off your shirt?), but even if that never happens, Garrett is giving Cleveland something right now.
Well done, this is an important piece of something great. Done wrong, it should be an important piece of something small, like Thomas was. Players are important to win, but they are also important to who they are.
Garrett is giving a diaper fan a plan for the first grade jersey day. Along with the lack of wins, the Browns haven’t done much lately.
According to the database at profootball-reference.com, 34 players have spent at least 10 seasons with the Browns. Seven became the Hall of Fame: Newsome, Otto Graham, Lou Groza, Gene Hickerson, Frank Gatski, Dante Lavelli, and Leroy Kelly. (Jim Brown’s Hall of Fame career spanned nine years.) Thomas will be the eighth decade of the Browns Hall of Fame. Matthews may one day be ninth.
Perhaps Matthews (16 years like Brown) was your favorite player. Or maybe it was Newsome (13), or Thomas (11), or Jim Brown or Bernie Kosar (nine each). A team must try to win. But you also need to put people in your life. Attachments for life are uniform, but typically begin with a special person in that uniform.
Right now, shout out the name of your all-time favorite Browns player. Did you hesitate? Or did you just know? I hope that player has given you a good streak of several years, which grew with you as you grew with him.
Matthews took kindergarten fans to college. Sixteen years, that’s a lot to ask Garrett in Cleveland. But at least let’s anticipate a strong decade. Again, that has not happened with Cleveland football. The movement eliminated continuity. Then the loss led to unfamiliarity. There weren’t many wins, so there weren’t many players to stick with.
Garrett cannot guarantee victories. But he signed the contract on Tuesday, so go ahead, join.
Since the Browns returned 21 seasons ago, only two players have put more than a decade here: Thomas and Phil Dawson. Both loved ones, both retired. Garrett played a single season with Thomas in 2017, and it turns out he passed the torch.
When the 2019 NFL season ended, according to a review of profootball-reference.com records, there were 44 active players who had spent at least 10 years with their current team. Twenty-three of the 32 franchises had at least one of those players: the Browns were one of nine that didn’t.
Since the Browns returned in 1999, there have been 198 NFL players who have spent at least a decade with a team. That’s an average of six per team. The Steelers had 16, the Bengals and the Ravens 10 each. The Browns, again, had two. Only Denver, with one, had fewer long-term football relationships.
There are plenty of quarterbacks there, of course, like Tom Brady in New England, Drew Brees in New Orleans, Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, Matt Ryan in Atlanta, Eli Manning with the Giants, and Philip Rivers with the Chargers. . We can review that if and when Baker Mayfield is preparing for a contract extension.
But there were also memorable advocates of more than a decade. Ray Lewis in Baltimore and Thomas Davis in Carolina, Brian Urlacher in Chicago and Troy Polamalu and James Harrison in Pittsburgh, Dwight Freeney in Indianapolis and Geno Atkins in Cincinnati.
That’s what the Browns have signed up for. Thomas, a tackle, and Dawson, a kicker, were a little harder to get excited about during their decades. Field targets can create memories at rare and specific times, but there isn’t much applause for great pass protection. Thomas’ excellence was obvious, but subtle.
Now it’s time to scream for sacks. Many bags For many years. That’s something.
Looking back, it’s fun to read what Thomas and those around him said to Mary Kay Cabot when she signed the extension in 2011 that established her long-term stay in Cleveland. At one point she was right. Thomas said he wanted to end his career in Cleveland, and his agent said, “When you walk into the facility and see the Hall of Fame on the wall, I hope that one day you will think of Joe the same way.”
Right on the spot.
Then there was what Thomas said about the winner, expressing faith in Mike Holmgren, Tom Heckert, Pat Shurmur and Colt McCoy.
“I see which way this thing is going and I want to be part of the championship,” said Thomas.
Did no nail it.
But that was not his fault. That’s not what extension was all about, or what Garrett’s extension is all about. Do long-term commitments from the stars lead to winning, or does winning encourage long-term commitments from the stars? The Browns and Garrett are starting with the engagement.
Do the Browns need Garrett to play at an All-Pro level to win his first Super Bowl? Probably.
But they also want me to play as an All-Pro for a long time because fans need attachments. Garrett at his best will help create and nurture the next generation of fans. Maybe he’ll eventually transition to a broadcast role for the team. Maybe he’ll get fans around his candidacy for the Hall of Fame. Or maybe he’ll just give a fan a smile who for years to come shouts “Myles Garrett” when asked about his all-time favorite Brown.
Take the Browns to a Super Bowl? Great plan. Cross your fingers for the future.
Create a lifetime attachment for lovers of this outfit? That is a victory right now.
Cleveland Browns Fanatics – Official Logo for Adults with Face Cover, 3-Pack, retails for $ 24.99
New brown face masks for sale: This is where you can buy Cleveland Browns-themed facial liners for coronavirus protection for adults and teens, including a mask ($ 14.99) and a 3-pack ($ 24.99). All NFL proceeds donated to the CDC Foundation.
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