ORIGINAL STORY: Welcome to 2020, where someone with the alias “EveryoneLovesNudez” can start an NFL trade rumor that sends social media into a frenzy.
The subject of said rumor: Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.
Twitter lost its collective helmet Monday when “EveryoneLovesNudez” teased a major trade on reddit and then “reported” during a radio appearance the Seattle Seahawks would acquire Garrett (the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft) from the Browns as part of a blockbuster also involving K.J. Wright.
It didn’t take long for an NFL insider to shoot down the random “report,” though, as Yahoo! Sports’ Charles Robinson tweeted a short time later that Garrett isn’t being traded to Seattle and that Cleveland is working hard on an extension with the 24-year-old pass rusher.
As much as I don’t want to break up the entertaining twitter brouhaha between #Browns and #Seahawks fans, Myles Garrett isn’t being traded to Seattle. Cleveland is working hard on an extension. Garrett will be shot to Mars in a rocket before he’s dealt to Seattle. Not. Happening.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) May 11, 2020
Well, it was fun while it lasted.
Garrett, a Pro Bowl selection in 2018, is coming off a 2019 season in which he missed Cleveland’s final six games due to an indefinite suspension stemming from his role in an ugly brawl with the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11. Garrett ripped off Mason Rudolph’s helmet and cracked him over the head with it in a wild scene.
The NFL reinstated Garrett in February, shortly after Super Bowl LIV. He’s now entering his fourth season and already has evolved into one of the NFL’s premier defensive players, totaling 30.5 sacks in his first 37 career games.
UPDATE (7:45 p.m. ET): Need another reason to write off this rumor?
Well, the source himself revealed it all was a ruse.
reddit screengrab
Pretty elaborate prank, though.
