Myles Garrett says he wants to stay but only if Browns don't rebuild and he trusts plan to contend

BEREA — Myles Garrett has always said he wanted to play his entire career with the Browns.He still does but added a condition — and it's a major one.No rebuilds."First of all, I want to win," he said Friday. "I want the Browns to be able to put me and us in position to win. I'm not trying to rebuild. I'm trying to win right now."I want that to be apparent, when the season's over and we have those discussions, I want them to be able to illuminate that for me, illustrate that for me, so that can be something that I can see in the near future. Because that's all we want to do. I'm going to stay loyal to a team that showed loyalty to me and faith in me by drafting me. But we have to do, at the end of the day, what's best for us."Duce Staley expects Nick Chubb to be 100 percent next year, says didn't get chance to show he hasn't lost explosivenessFor the first time in his eight years with the Browns, he opened the door to going elsewhere."I mean, it's a possibility, but I want to be a Cleveland Brown," he said. "I want to play here, play my career here. But if we choose to do a rebuild and it's two, three, four years out, I want to be able to compete and play at a high level, play meaningful games and be playing past January."Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, will turn 29 next Friday. He was the No. 1 pick of the 2017 draft and the Browns went 0-16 in his rookie season. He's been to the playoffs twice in eight years, with one postseason victory.The Browns are 3-11 and the future is uncertain. The starting quarterback for 2025 is probably not on the roster, and the personnel department will be hamstrung by the salary cap commitments to injured quarterback Deshaun Watson, who's set to count $73 million against the cap in each of the next two seasons.Myles Garrett practices, will play vs. Bengals; David Njoku questionable after return to practiceGarrett wants to know the plan at quarterback to see if and how the front office expects to contend next season."Absolutely. As uncertain as it is now from the outside looking in, it's uncertain for us, as well," he said. "So if DTR is the solution or someone else is, it's got to be drawn out. There's got to be a plan of action and just got to know where things are going."Dorian Thompson-Robinson will start Sunday against the Bengals in Cincinnati. He was a fifth-round pick in 2023, went 1-2 as the starter as a rookie and has thrown one touchdown and seven interceptions.The Browns will likely have a combination of a veteran and rookie at quarterback next season, potentially in addition to Watson. Garrett was asked about the possible scenario of drafting a quarterback high and starting him as a rookie."I'd have to see it. That's the plan, but plans change," he said. "We'd have to see if it actually happened. Hard for me to hypothesize since that hasn't happened and we haven't had any of those conversations."Jerry Jeudy grateful Browns — not Jets — got him, says he belongs in NFL's elite and confident can keep hot streak going with DTRGarrett stressed the importance of the strategy he wants to see from the decision-makers."If we have that alignment where this is something that is still possible in the near future, winning, going deep in the playoffs, putting a great defense out there, having a time-of-possession, running-game offense, getting all the guys back," he said, "I think that would really keep my mind at rest, keep me settled. Not just mine, a lot of the guys on the defense, the D-line, around the team. But we have to continue to take strides forward, not just as players, but from the top down."A week ago Garrett said he was in favor of continuity after owner Jimmy Haslam told ESPN he had the right pieces in general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski. Garrett was asked Friday if he'd still want to be here if one or both weren't retained."I have no idea. I don't know what pieces they'll be adding or subtracting, so I can't hypothesize off of something I really don't know of," he said. "I need to see a plan to make plans myself. That's for all of us, not just me."Garrett doubled down on his support for Stefanski, who's been to the playoffs twice in his five seasons with the Browns. He and Berry received multiyear extensions in the offseason.Garrett, who will play Sunday despite missing Thursday's practice with a back injury, agreed with kicker Dustin Hopkins that Stefanski has their trust."He's been a man of his word, that's all you can really hold a man to in any facet of life," Garrett said. "He says what he means, means what he says and he's been there for us, whether it's on the field or off the field. So if he says just we got your back or he's got our back, then I know I believe it because he's shown it, not just for me but with other guys. That goes a long way with us."This season has been particularly difficult given the lofty expectations entering the season following an 11-6 record and playoff berth in 2023. The Browns are guaranteed their worst record since Garrett's winless rookie season.The offense has been the biggest problem, but the defense has fallen well short of its No. 1 ranking a year ago — 18th in total yards, 23rd against the run, 11th against the pass, 26th in scoring — despite Garrett again playing at an elite level."A multitude of injuries, but names on paper don't win games," he said. "Guys got to go out there and execute. Dollar signs don't win games. Talk about standard and culture doesn't win games, showing up early and staying late doesn't win games. Execution and performance does, practice habits do. Being about what you say, accountability and responsibility, all those things lead to winning games, and I feel like there just wasn't enough. There wasn't as much as last year."We didn't take a step forward like we talked about at the beginning of the year and we were searching for that all year and there were times in which we thought we had a grasp and we figured it out, but it just wasn't there."The defense and special teams weren't able to save the floundering offense."We weren't playing well enough on defense to win games for the amount of points we were scoring," he said. "I don't feel like there was enough complementary football down the stretch, and that's everybody's fault. There's no phase in which we were perfect or really great at. We have to be great as a team and we weren't that special team that we were last year."The post Myles Garrett says he wants to stay but only if Browns don't rebuild and he trusts plan to contend first appeared on BrownsZone with Scott Petrak.