Stay calm, Cleveland Browns fans.
No, the team isn’t trading Myles Garrett — the stud defensive end who ended up serving a six-game punishment for hitting Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph in the head with a helmet during a game — to the Seattle Seahawks.
But for a little while on Monday, that rumor sent some people scrambling, with attempts to try to find out if it was true. And it was debunked fairly quickly … and then the world found out it was a Reddit user who started it all as a prank of sorts.
Let’s start at the beginning: A Reddit user who had correctly reported about the Seahawks releasing center Justin Britt was on Seattle radio station KJR and said Garrett would be going to the Hawks:
THIS GUY JUST SAID MYLES GARRET ON RADIOšµ pic.twitter.com/cVfiFFdlLk
— Vount Condottaš¢šØš½āš» (@vountee) May 11, 2020
Not long after that, it was very much debunked by Yahoo’s Charles Robinson and ESPN Seattle radio host Jake Heaps:
As much as I donāt want to break up the entertaining twitter brouhaha between #Browns and #Seahawks fans, Myles Garrett isnāt being traded to Seattle. Cleveland is working hard on an extension. Garrett will be shot to Mars in a rocket before heās dealt to Seattle. Not. Happening.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) May 11, 2020
Seahawks Twitter get a grip… Sorry to burst your bubble but the Myles Garrett Trade rumors couldn't be more wrong (I would love for it to be true).
No team in their right mind is going to trade one of the NFL's truly ELITE pass rushers for a LB, a 2nd and 7th RD pick.
— Jake Heaps (@jtheaps9) May 11, 2020
So what happened here? It turns out this “insider” was out to get revenge for the Fail Mary — the 2012 play in which the Seahawks beat the Packers thanks to replacement officials calling a touchdown on a last-second Hail Mary that should have been offensive pass interference or an interception instead — nearly eight years later.
In a Reddit post, the “insider” said this: “I do know a player on the team and the Britt news was legit. I used that to fabricate a trade and see how far I could go with it.”
That's it. Myles Garrett not going to #Seahawks confirmed pic.twitter.com/4ApyKwarpr
— Marcin Popiel (@Goldek16) May 11, 2020
And that’s that.
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