BEREA — Myles Garrett recognizes the harsh reality and is trying to change it.
The front office made a concession to the 1-5 start and four-game losing streak by trading five-time Pro Bowl receiver Amari Cooper to the Bills on Tuesday for a third-round draft pick. The deal wouldn’t have been made if the Browns were on a playoff trajectory, and if the losing continues before the Nov. 5 trade deadline, more moves are possible, if not likely.
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“Sure, anybody could be next,” Garrett said Friday. “When you lose, the door is open for anyone, so how you keep from losing your job or getting moved anywhere else, you have to play your a– off.
“You have to show you earned the right to be here, earn the right to be on the field, earn the right to rush. You earn just a privilege to wear these colors. It is an honor and privilege to be here and to do this job every day and if you’re not doing it, then someone else will step up and take your place. That goes for anyone, myself included. I take it to heart and I am with the guys to match my intensity.”
General manager Andrew Berry trading Garrett would be a stunner, even if he could get back multiple draft picks, including at least one first-rounder. Garrett was the No. 1 pick of the 2017 draft, is a five-time Pro Bowler, three-time All-Pro, reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year and the franchise’s career sack leader with 92.5.
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He’s on a Hall of Fame trajectory and doesn’t see himself ever wearing anything other than the brown and orange.
“I hope not,” he said. “I’ve always said I want to play here to the end of my career. I want to win here. I want to bring a championship here, so that doesn’t cross my mind.
“No matter the record, I’m always focused on how we can improve, how we can turn things around. I don’t ever think of doing anything else and we have to finish what we started. Work on where we are now. No one should be worried about the situation with Amari and how that affects them. Everyone’s still here. We have to worry about the situation in which we’re in and how we can make our situation look a lot better by the end of the year.”
Trading a player like Cooper — not only the team’s best receiver but a member of the leadership council — can rattle a locker room. Players can worry about who’s next and question the organization’s commitment to salvaging this season.
Garrett had a message for the team to quiet any doubts as it prepared to host the Bengals on Sunday.
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“The mission doesn’t change,” he said. “AFC North is still open. We got to win out and we got to win one game at a time. You can’t be discouraged by what’s happened before and you can’t be looking at everyone around you as far as team-wise thinking, ‘wish we would’ve done this or wish we could have had that.’ None of that helps the situation. The only thing that’s going to help the situation is winning.
“That means winning every rep. That means going out there and winning in film study, trying to learn more, retain more information, being where you’re supposed to be, attacking everything 100 percent if that’s what it’s going to take. It’s going to take even more and dialing up even more every week, because that intensity can only grow, because every game on out is a playoff game, especially with an AFC opponent.”
The Browns would almost certainly have to finish 9-8 or better to have any chance of making the playoffs for the second straight year. They’ve left themselves little margin for error but are 1-1 in the AFC and have yet to play inside the division.
“The NFC East beat the he– out of us,” safety Grant Delpit said of the sweep. “We’re playing division games now, conference games, these are the ones that weigh. So we’re attacking it like that.”
Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone joined the list of coaches and players to relate their experience of overcoming a bad start to make the playoffs. Delpit took a different approach.
“My message has been just about legacy, who we want to be,” he said. “Do we want to be the team that had all the individual pieces and just didn’t put it together? Or do we want to be the team that came from the bottom, came back from nothing and made a statement?”
Garrett agrees the Browns still have the assets to succeed.
“I do. I feel like we have from the beginning of the year,” he said. “It’s really been a sign of our mentality and execution. There’s been a lack of focus and we need to improve and we’ve been doing that and we’ve been close. But we’re going to get where we need to be.”
