Las Vegas — Trent Williams, the 49ers’ future Hall of Fame left tackle, showered the greatest accolades on Myles Garrett on the eve of his likely NFL Defensive Player of the Year award Thursday night at the NFL Honors program.
“Best player I’ve ever played against,” Williams, a 14-year NFL veteran, said when asked about Garrett by Cleveland.com on Wednesday. “He is a juggernaut. Obviously, he deserves it. I have a lot of respect for him, and I can’t wait to watch him succeed.”
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The Browns are apparently exploring plans to depart Downtown for a stadium outside the Cleveland municipal boundaries.
Are we looking at the Brook Park Browns in the future?
According to NEOtrans, a site that follows new developments in Northeast Ohio, the Cleveland Browns ownership group is apparently interested in purchasing 176 acres of land in Brook Park, Ohio. Given that the team has already purchased additional land in Berea, Ohio to expand their practice and training camp facilities, the land in adjacent Brook Park does not make sense for a new headquarters. It would, however, be consistent with a possible future stadium site.
The land is home to two former Ford car plants. It’s worth emphasizing that NEOtrans’ sources did not say that the area would be utilized as a stadium site, but they are connecting the dots on the fact that it’s a vast piece of land that meets all of the criteria for a new stadium.
It is unclear what the aim of the purported Brook Park purchase agreement is. It could be a legitimate attempt by the Haslam Sports Group to construct a football stadium in Cleveland’s suburbs. It might also be the Haslams’ insurance policy in case talks with Cleveland officials do not result in a contract for the rebuilding of the city-owned Cleveland Browns Stadium on downtown’s lakefront. The Browns’ lease at the stadium will expire after the 2028 football season.
The location would be adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Brook Park RTA Rapid Station.
The Browns quickly responded to the rumors, releasing the following statement from team spokesman Peter John-Baptiste.
The statement does not deny the rumors. It recognizes that they appreciate the City of Cleveland’s investigation into the landbridge and the present stadium restoration, but that they are also “exploring other potential stadium options in Northeast Ohio at various additional sites.” The Brook Park, Ohio land could be a backup plan for the Haslams, or it could be a ploy to put additional pressure on the City of Cleveland to secure money before losing the Browns again (albeit in a very different situation) with a relocation away from Downtown Cleveland.
It is also not uncommon for a Browns owner to purchase a large tract of property but not use it. As DBN’s Barry Shuck noted last year, in the 1980s, Art Modell “bought an abundance of land in Strongsville, Ohio with the idea that a new stadium might be built there, but eventually sold all that land as residential property.”
