I keep hearing, and reading, that the Browns hold all the cards in this Myles Garrett debacle.

Uh, well, no, they don’t.

Oh, sure, the Browns would take a big salary cap hit with the dead money that trading him would create. And what team wants to do that?

But as big as that is, it pales in comparison to — it is dwarfed by, in fact — the size of the public relations problem the Browns have in being in a spitting match with their best, most notable and highest-profile player, a generational talent who will be headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday.

He has called out Browns management for screwing up so many things, especially at quarterback, the most important position in team sports, since he arrived as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, that he is convinced the club has no viable plan to even compete for a trip to Super Bowl, let alone get there, anytime soon. And as such, he wants be dealt to a team for which such exists.

The rest of the free world is siding with Garrett. This should embarrass the Browns. It should make them re-think everything they’ve done, are doing and plan to do.

The Browns need to get their integrity — their image, their good name — back, and the only way to do that is to check their ego at the door and start making themselves look like a place, and a team, that is competitive and player-friendly. It is perceived as neither right now, which sends a horrible message to prospective free agents and even possible draft picks, particularly in the first three rounds.

And the longer this goes on with Garrett, the harder that job will become.

Steve King