BEREA, Ohio — Money does the talking. So do actions.

Both are talking over one another right now, I would argue, when it comes to the Myles Garrett Browns’ extension.

It’s a record-breaking, four-year deal that makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history — $160 million, including $123.5 million in guarantees.

But it comes after a month of drama. Even after agreeing to come back, Garrett had plenty of explaining to do on Friday as he met with reporters in a press conference outfitted with toy dinosaurs and themed cupcakes, a nod to one of his most notable off-field interests.

Awaiting the Myles Garrett extension press conference at the #Browns facility: pic.twitter.com/SeXKjPIEkd

— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) March 14, 2025

Most of the questions asked Friday weren’t happy-go-lucky about a shiny new extension.

Instead, the focus throughout the nearly 25-minute-long session was about his change of heart and initial assertion that he wouldn’t return to Cleveland.

Because Garrett just didn’t make a trade request: He did so publicly, and in a tour on radio row Super Bowl week, made it clear that his desire to leave Cleveland wasn’t about money, but about winning. He even went as far as saying he would “do whatever it takes” to get traded, including missing games if he had to.

After all that, it’s understandable there could be hurt feelings still among Cleveland fans — although, I would argue that when contract disputes get resolved, memories tend to be short. How many Ravens fans do you know still mad at Lamar Jackson for his contract spat with Baltimore in 2023?

Garrett may still have some work ahead of him to get the Dawg Pound fully back on his side, but let’s keep this in-house: How is Garrett going to make sure this trade request doesn’t linger among his teammates?

Because the most cynical view of this situation is Garrett’s change of heart is all money related (for that amount, who can blame him?), and that everything he said about the team not being able to contend is still true, even though he’s back.

No words are going to make any of that magically better. Going forward, it will be about letting his actions talk.

To his credit it seems like he’s trying to get a head start.

Since agreeing to come back, Garrett has been adamant about wanting to help better the team and recruit free agents.

But after repeating again and again that his trade request was about winning and that he didn’t think he and the team were “aligned on the near future” when it came to chasing a Super Bowl, is he worried that month-long strategy will scare off potential free agents?

“Well, I’m here,” Garrett said on Friday. “So I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon and I’m willing to help however I can to get the right pieces here to make the changes we need to win games and to go deep in the playoffs and win a championship.”

Garrett has already turned those words into actions, as free agency officially kicked off this week.

He was in the building on Thursday, the day before his extension presser, and briefly met with free agent QB Russell Wilson, who the Browns are courting.

But there’s also the guys on the Browns’ roster currently.

After all, it probably didn’t go over well to have the star player giving interview after interview in which he said both outright and indirectly that he didn’t think winning a Super Bowl here was likely in the short term.

And on that count, Garrett is relying not just on his own play to convince teammates he wants to be here, but on a collective understanding of the business side of the game, and some good old fashioned communication.

“I had conversations with my teammates and some of the leaders on the team, as well as my position room,” Garrett said. “They understand that it’s part of the business. They want to be successful as well. It’s always difficult at the end of the season when you underachieve and things don’t go your way.

“I don’t want it to go understated, how much they had an impact on this decision to come back with the things they had to say and the appeal they had towards coming back and doing things over again. Just making these minor tweaks that we saw that could make a massive difference.”

What should be a purely happy time post-extension has turned into a bit of a mess that Garrett has to clean up.

But through it all, he still doesn’t regret being so public in his initial trade request.

“I think I had some frustration, and I feel like that helped us grow and have conversations that were difficult, but needed to be had,” he said. “And that created a little bit more discourse, helped build some relationships and reaffirmed them and now I feel like we’re in a better place and now we can move on and grow from there.”

It’s an evolved way to look at the whole situation. And maybe both things can be true: Maybe Garrett does feel a bit more confident in the Browns’ plans going forward, and maybe he couldn’t pass up a chance at a different kind of generational wealth.

This reversal from Garrett isn’t the easiest given everything that has been said over the last month. But the trade request is over, the ink is dry on the extension, and all that’s left to do is move on.

The Browns did the talking with their checkbook.

Now Garrett is the one who’s going to have to be loud with his actions to ensure the team’s short term future is brighter than even he initially believed a month ago.