Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett agreed to a contract extension. (TNS)

Tribune News Service

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Myles Garrett took a big detour on Sunday and is eager to go from Cleveland to Canton afterall.

After requesting the Browns trade him so he could go elsewhere to win a Super Bowl, the Browns on Sunday agreed to terms with Garrett on an four-year, $160 million extension through 2030 worth $40 million a year, including $123.5 million in guarantees. It makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. The previous high was Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby, who signed a three-year deal last week worth $35.5 million.

Garrett’s deal also includes a no-trade clause.

Digging his heals in since he first made the trade request on Feb. 3, Garrett, 29, had steadfastly maintained that it wasn’t about the money, and that he only wanted to win a Super Bowl. A source told cleveland.com last week at the NFL Combine that he “wasn’t open to” an extension.

But all of that changed over the past three days.

“Andrew Berry and I spent the last 36 hours getting the deal done, basically,” Garrett’s agent, Nicole Lynn, told cleveland.com by phone Sunday. “Myles had a change of heart and he’s excited to go from Cleveland to Canton and chase a championship in Ohio.

“When he made that decision, he said ‘I want to get this done before free agency so I can start recruiting free agents, so I can help the team.’ And I said ‘alright, we have 24 hours to get this done’ and we did it.”

Garrett, a future Hall of Famer and 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, also had his request to speak with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam turned down this week, but Berry and Lynn got down to business instead.

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who recently declined Garrett’s request for a meeting, did speak top Garrett Sunday after the extension was agreed upon and congratulated him, a league source said.

The extension adds a surprising twist to a saga that began on Dec. 20 when Garrett revealed he might want out if the Browns couldn’t show him a blueprint for contending in 2025.

“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 (winning) 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.”

Berry, who met with Garrett in an exit interview and layed out the plan for 2025, weighed in on the matter at his season-ending press conference, first uttering his now-famous Cleveland to Canton phrase, referencing Garrett being immortalizing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after playing only for the Browns.

“So let me say in terms of Myles, my anticipation, expectation, is that he’ll have a direct ticket from Cleveland to Canton at the end of his [years] and expect him to be here and retire a Brown, quite frankly,” Berry said then.

After the season finale in Baltimore, Garrett alluded for the first time to an extension that could be forthcoming. In addition, during an episode of Hard Knocks: In season with the AFC North that aired after the season, Garrett said “we’re closer than some think we are.”

It seemed like things were trending in the right direction at that point.

But by mid-January, Garrett had informed the Browns privately that he wanted out.

Berry knew that when he asked by a small group of Browns beat writers at the Senior Bowl Jan. 28 if he’d refuse to trade Garrett even if someone offered him two first-round picks at dinner that night.

“Correct,” he said. “You can put that on the record.”

He also made it clear he was open to signing Garrett to an extension, and re-iterated his Cleveland to Canton remark.

Less than a week later, Garrett dropped his trade request bombshell in a statement sent to cleveland.com and several other news outlets.

“ … while I’ve loved calling this city my home, my desire to win and compete on the biggest stages won’t allow me to be complacent,” he wrote. “The goal was never to go from Cleveland to Canton, it has always been to compete for and win a Super Bowl. With that in mind, I have requested to be traded from the Cleveland Browns.”

A source told cleveland.com that day that the Browns were holding to firm to their “no-trade” stance.

Two days later, Garrett used his previously scheduled media blitz on radio row at the Super Bowl (to promote a product) to take his trade request national and put it on blast. Over and over, he stated that it’s not about the money, and that he just wanted to win a Super Bowl. He re-itertaed what he told the local media in December, that he consulted with LeBron James, also a Klutch Sports client, about his decision.

“It’s not a decision I take lightly,” Garrett told Rich Eisen. “It took time and lots of conversation, but just looking at the trajectory of the team, talking to some of the higher-ups … I have a lot of respect for them, but I just don’t think we’re aligned on where the team is going in the near future. I feel like the window for us as athletes is only so broad and only continues to close as years go by with anything being able to happen on that field from day to day. I want to be able to go out there and compete at the highest levels, day in and day out, and play for championships, like I said.”

On Super Bowl Sunday, he fired a warning shot on ESPN, saying in the pre-game show that he was “willing to do whatever it takes” to get the Browns to trade him.

The Browns refused to budge, doubling down on their “Myles isn’t going anywhere” credo at the NFL Combine two weeks ago.

Berry even made it clear he wasn’t engaging in trade talks.

“I wouldn’t really touch on any conversations that I have with other teams, just respectfully,” Berry said. “I don’t think that’s appropriate just for current and future business, but it’s irrelevant to this situation because we’re not interested in trading Myles.”

He also foreshadowed the blockbuster extension in that podium interview, sounding confident one was forthcoming.

“As you’ve probably seen over the past five years, whenever you get into extension talks, they can happen at any time,” Berry said. “I’ve learned not to predict those because often times those negotiations, they can go up and down and back and forth. I think if you look at our history through 2020, we’ve had some that have occurred in March or April …”

Kevin Stefanski chimed in at the Combine a day later, saying “As you know, I think the world of Myles, I understand the business of football and I understand these things happen from time to time. But I expect Myles on our team this year, next year, the year after that and so on. He’s part of the present, he’s part of the future.”

He also stressed that their goals for contending are the same, despite Garrett not feeling aligned.

“I also want to win,” Stefanski said. “I also want to win a championship. That’s just how we’re wired and we’re working very hard towards that goal.”

Two days later, on Feb. 27, a source told cleveland.com that Garrett was “not open to” a contract extension.

Last week, however, the edge rusher market rattled and rolled, with Crosby becoming the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL, and Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson, who led the NFL with 17.5 sacks last season, receiving permission from the Bengals to seek a trade. Other pass-rushers such as Joey Bosa, Jonathan Allen and Harold Landry flooded the market, with precious millions set to dry up as free agency kicks off on Monday.

Garrett also recently requested a meeting with Browns owner Haslam and was flatly denied. The Browns locked arms and presented a united front on the issue: they had no plans of trading Garrett and were sticking to their guns. Haslam directed Garrett back to Berry, and maintained the organizational chain of command.

Now, Garrett, the Browns’ all-time leading sacker and four-time first-team All-Pro, will help lure free agents to Cleveland this week, including a new veteran bridge quarterback such as Joe Flacco and possibly another edge-rusher to bookend with him and maybe take some of the heat off.

He’ll join fellow multiple All-Pro Joel Bitonio, who’s returning for his 12th season because he bought the Browns “plan of attack.”

The extension will also calm the waters for teammates such as Denzel Ward, on whom Garrett’s trade request had a “huge impact,” and David Njoku, who told cleveland.com on radio row that he’d try to talk Garrett out of his trade request. Greg Newsome II echoed that sentiment.

The Browns, who went 11-6 in 2023 and made the playoffs as a wild card team, will try to get back to winning this season with possibly a new quarterback of the future in Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders, and other key pieces.

But the road to a possible Super Bowl, and the long trek from Cleveland to Canton, began on Sunday with this record-breaking extension.