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Myles Garrett #95 of the Cleveland Browns

In all the discussion that has happened around the Cleveland Browns in recent weeks–and for a 5-12 team that had a 3-14 record the previous season, it is a lot of discussion–there remains a pretty significant unanswered question. Yes, we can talk about Shedeur Sanders vs. Deshaun Watson all we want, until we are blue in the face, and so on. And we can speculate on the fact that Myles Garrett has been a no-show to this point, that he has not met new coach Todd Monken yet and whether that matters.

But those questions can be answered easily enough with time. In time, we will know the Browns quarterback, and in a little more than three weeks, the Browns will hold a mandatory minicamp and Garrett will most likely show up.

The question we still don’t know, though, does concern Garrett. And it’s the question that came up around his contract back in March, when ESPN’s Field Yates reported that Garrett and the Browns had agreed to alter his contract to defer a payment until just before the start of the season. All GM Andrew Berry would say about the matter when asked back in March was that he doesn’t talk about player contracts. And that’s where the situation has been left ever since.

Why Would Myles Garrett Defer $30 Million?

Indeed, no Browns reporter or national insider has offered up any explanation, and Garrett’s continued absence from the team only adds more mystery. It’s mostly been written off as a quirk between the team and the player.

But former NFL player Chris Canty, who spent 11 years in the league and won a Super Bowl with the Giants, isn’t letting it go. As he sees it, there is no other way to explain the way things have unfolded in Cleveland this offseason other than that a Garrett trade is coming.

Speaking on the show he co-hosts, “Unsportsmanlike” on ESPN, Canty said: “It is weird. Nobody has given me a reasonable explanation as to why Myles Garrett would defer a $30 million payment until a week before the season. Nobody has given me a good reason.”

Browns’ Todd Monken ‘Knows Something About Myles Garrett’

Canty noted the annoyance that Monken seems to show whenever he is asked by a Browns reporter about Garrett, and suggests that perhaps Monken knows that something big is coming down the pike for the team.

Said Canty: “When asked that question about Myles Garrett, it feels like Todd Monken knows something about Myles Garrett that everybody else doesn’t, which is, he’s not on the team right now, he’s probably not on the team when we start the season in Week 1.

“Actions over words. I love money more than most people understand, but why, why would you say, when you’re entitled to $30 million, would you say, ‘It’s cool, you can get it to me in four or five months?’”

Who Could Browns Make Trade With?

There are problems with the theory Canty presents, of course. The Browns could, potentially, be open to trading Garrett, but if that is the case, what is the team waiting for? Wouldn’t the Browns want to finalize a trade sooner rather than later? Maybe a team would be willing to take on Garrett after some June 1 cut or trade (the Eagles?) but that would require the team getting Garrett to both clear out cap space for him and to send the Browns a boatload of useful draft capital.

Still, Canty has a point–it’s tough to square the Garrett contract change, and why it leaked to the media, without a trade being the end result.

Said Canty: “What are we talking about? The only reason we defer the payment and do that restructure is to make it easier for the Cleveland Browns to move off of Myles Garrett. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”