Fresh off signing his $100 million contract with ESPN, Stephen A. Smith is mocking Myles Garrett for his negotiating tactics with the Cleveland Browns.
One month after requesting a trade from the Browns citing a desire to win, Garrett found happiness in Cleveland again, this time to the tune of a four-year contract extension worth more than $200 million, with $123 million in guaranteed money. And Monday morning on First Take, Smith couldn’t help but laugh at Garrett’s on again, off again relationship with the Browns in recent weeks.
“I’m happy this brother got his money. He deserves it,” Smith insisted. “I’m just saying, I thought you said you was trying to win… am I misquoting him? Didn’t he talk about the Super Bowl? Not only have the Browns never played in the Super Bowl, they haven’t been to the AFC Championship Game since 1989. We know they finished in last place. We see what’s happening in the AFC and this brother had us convinced…”
Smith spent the next minute doing some sort of Garrett impression, making fun of the five-time All-Pro for issuing an emotional statement last month when he formally requested a trade from Cleveland.
“’I didn’t come to the NFL to go to Canton. I came to the NFL to win a Super Bowl,’” Smith recalled Garrett writing last month. “And then they say, ‘Here’s $123.5 million guaranteed.’ And suddenly it’s like, ‘What did I say?’
“I’m not mad at him,” Smith claimed. “If I see him, I’m gonna give him a pound and a hug and I’m gonna say congratulations. But I’m gonna be laughing along the way, cause you was talking about a Super Bowl.”
Is Smith really mocking someone for the way they went about negotiating a new contract? Less than a week removed from getting his own $100 million contract? After spending the last year answering questions about his future, where he wasn’t shy about his willingness to leave if that’s where the negotiations went, Smith and ESPN finally agreed to a new contract last week.
Everyone understands the play here with Garrett, and it worked. Garrett gets a historic contract and he doesn’t have to move.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com