Browns Star Myles Garrett’s Cryptic Post Raises Questions About His Future in Cleveland After Jim Schwartz’s Exit

The Browns thought they’d finally quieted the Myles Garrett noise. He stayed. He got paid. Averaging $40 million annually with $123.5 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. For a moment, it felt like Cleveland had survived yet another franchise-defining fork in the road.

But football déjà vu has a way of creeping back in Berea, and Jim Schwartz’s sudden exit has reopened questions the organization hoped were buried. When Garrett followed that news with a cryptic social post, it landed like a reminder. The past frustration, the misalignment, the Super Bowl talk that never materialized: all of it suddenly felt back on the table.

After Wanting Out Once, Myles Garrett’s Latest Post Feels Like the Tip of the Iceberg

Garrett has never been loud about his frustrations. When he speaks, it’s usually measured. When he posts, especially without words, it tends to mean more than it looks.

That’s why his latest Instagram story, a picture of a man sitting on a bench with his head down, dropped shortly after the Browns passed on Schwartz for the head coaching job, landed like a warning flare rather than a coincidence.

Cleveland chose Todd Monken as its next head coach instead of promoting Schwartz, the defensive coordinator whom players openly campaigned for. Almost immediately, reports surfaced that Schwartz was “very upset” about the decision. Then came Garrett’s post.

The Browns’ defensive unit hasn’t hidden its loyalty to Schwartz. Garrett, Denzel Ward, and Grant Delpit all made it clear where they stood during the coaching search. Ashley Bastock of Cleveland.com put it bluntly: “I don’t know that people understand how bad it could get for the Browns if Schwartz leaves, and on bad terms… the impact of the ripple effect could be incomprehensible.”

That ripple effect starts with Garrett, because it always does. Last year, he already explored what leaving Cleveland might look like. He consulted his family, his agent, and even LeBron James. “Just what a transition looked like for him,” Garrett said on The Rich Eisen Show. “Making sure I made a logical decision, taking my time, and trying to take away the pressure of doing something like that.”

Garrett didn’t frame it as resentment. “I want to go to a contender,” he told Eisen. “I just want to be in a position to play in those big games and win big games and feel like I can make a meaningful impact.”

Cleveland, coming off a 3–14 season (2024), didn’t feel aligned. “I just don’t think we’re aligned on where the team is going in the near future.”

And yet, Garrett stayed. Let me correct myself: he dominated. In a collapsing 2025 season, he put together one of the greatest defensive years the league has ever seen. 23 sacks. A single-season NFL record. 33 tackles for loss. 60 total tackles. 3 forced fumbles. A Grade A impact score of 95.6 on PFSN’s NFL Edge impact metrics, ranking him the topmost MAN in the position, despite a 5–12 record.

That’s the part that matters now. Garrett did his part. Again! He carried a defense that finished sixth in the NFL, according to PFSN’s NFL DEFi metrics, while the rest of the roster crumbled. Schwartz’s scheme was the backbone. Over three seasons, Cleveland was the only team to hold opponents under 300 yards per game on average.

Now that the backbone feels unstable.

No one inside the building is talking about a trade request. Garrett just signed a massive deal. He has a no-trade clause. On paper, he’s locked in. Emotionally? That’s murkier. Asking your franchise cornerstone to survive another philosophical shift, potentially without the coach he trusts most, is playing with fire.