What the Myles Garrett contract talks mean for the Browns

First off, let's not get carried away, OK? The Cleveland Browns have yet to accomplish a damn thing, and any suggestion they're back or on the rise or, well, good will have to wait until they actually achieve something tangible on a football field. Until further notice, they remain a franchise that can be counted on to eventually fall down a well. Still, though: The Browns have engaged in contract talks with defensive end Myles Garrett, and - no joke - that's something that qualifies as a genuine milestone.

For two decades, the Browns have been a model of instability. They've had a real gift for cycling through general managers, head coaches, and quarterbacks - and losing games. Cleveland won fewer games than any other team during the 2010s, when it also had more draft capital than anyone else. That's exactly why even the possibility of an extension for Garrett, the No. 1 overall selection in 2017, is a sign of progress: No Browns first-round pick has signed a second contract with the team since cornerback Joe Haden, and Joe Haden was drafted way back in 2010. It should further be noted that the Browns eventually released Haden in 2017, and that Haden's since emerged as a solid veteran presence for the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that Browns fans might actually hate more than they hate themselves.

The Browns aren't the only team to go a long time without signing a first-rounder to a new contract. The Seattle Seahawks haven't given an extension to a first-round pick since safety Earl Thomas, who was also selected in 2010. And the Raiders haven't done it since safety Michael Huff, whom they took in 2006. But the Seahawks and Raiders found better value with their drafts through the years than the Browns, who've just plain sucked at picking players for the last decade relative to the kind of draft assets they've accumulated.

Benjamin Ellinger recently determined the draft efficiency for every NFL team dating back to 2010 for Football Outsiders. He did this first by gauging draft capital by value, then by using Pro Football Reference's Approximate Value metric to determine the return generated by each pick, then by weighing that capital against those returns.

The Seahawks frequently trade back to accumulate draft assets. But from 2010-19, they nonetheless ranked No. 1 in terms of the quality of their picks relative to where they were drafting and how many selections they had. In 2011 and 2012, in fact, the Seahawks had two of the three best draft classes of the entire decade - the foundation on which they built a perennial winner that's won a Super Bowl, reached another, and missed the playoffs just once since 2012. The Browns, by contrast, came in at No. 31, behind every team except the Jets, who last reached the playoffs in 2010.

Interestingly, the Browns ranked third in terms of overall draft return in the last 10 years, and tied for first in the last five years. This, however, is a function of the enormous draft capital the Browns accumulated throughout the 2010s, and in the last five years in particular, when they dropped the pretense and embarked on a deliberate strategy of losing games to pile up even more picks. Which explains a little about why they haven't had a first-round pick get to a second contract in the last decade.

Now, because first-round picks are slotted into four-year contracts with a team option for a fifth year, the 2015 draft class is the most recent to be completely beyond the point of a rookie deal's reach. The 2016 class is about to enter its option year, and only a handful of 2016 first-rounders have already signed extensions, including Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, and Ezekiel Elliott. Christian McCaffrey is the only member of the 2017 draft class to get a new deal so far, though the Kansas City Chiefs reportedly want to get one done with Patrick Mahomes, and Jamal Adams is making a stink to try to get the Jets to pay up or trade him to a contender.

So what happened to the Browns in the years between when they selected Haden and Garrett? Using Ellinger's data set, I determined that from 2011-16, Cleveland ranked dead last in terms of return vs. capital on their draft picks. The Browns had eight first-round selections across those five years. All were busts. Phil Taylor made it to his option year before being cut at the end of training camp. But Brandon Weeden, Justin Gilbert, and Johnny Manziel didn't even make it that far. Trent Richardson was somehow traded for a first-round pick. Barkevious Mingo and Cameron Erving were dealt separately for a fifth-rounder each, and Danny Shelton and a fifth-rounder were exchanged for a third-rounder. Meanwhile, the Raiders - the only team to go longer without doing a second deal for one of its first-rounders - got multiple first-round picks when they traded Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper in separate swaps.

Garrett was suspended for the final six games of the 2019 season for striking Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph with a helmet during an in-game brawl last November. Garrett said he reacted after Rudolph directed a racial slur at him, though Rudolph and the Steelers denied this. The Browns see a future for Garrett because of his ability to rush the passer, and by working to sign him now, with two years of control plus the possibility of the franchise tag still at their disposal, they seem to want to get ahead of a pass-rusher market that's expected to climb substantially in the years ahead. A deal that averages more than $20 million a season likely isn't out of the question.

The Browns view Garrett as the sort of foundational piece they've been unable to land in the first round for years, despite lots of trying - and he's not the only one. Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward, and David Njoku also fit that description, as do a handful of others who might plausibly constitute a veteran nucleus: Nick Chubb, Larry Ogunjobi, Rashard Higgins, and Joel Bitonio.

The Browns made some moves in free agency to protect Mayfield (left tackle Jack Conklin) and to give him an additional weapon (tight end Austin Hooper). They also used this year's first-round pick on right tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. out of Alabama. Cleveland currently has more salary-cap space than any other team, in large part because it has more cap resources tied to cheap rookie contracts than anyone else. The Browns seem to be set up fairly well, but they've also been here before.

Still: Signing Garrett at least represents the progress of having used some of their substantial draft treasure to get good players. But now comes the hard part. They supposedly solved football last year, only to revert to form by finishing 6-10 and firing head coach Freddie Kitchens and GM John Dorsey. The Browns seem to be getting closer, but they're also just as far away as they've always been. They still have to win.

Dom Cosentino is a senior features writer at theScore.

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