The Los Angeles Rams are at it again.
L.A. is finalizing a trade for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, shipping Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick to the Cleveland Browns, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero and ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Monday.
Browns general manager Andrew Berry on Monday declined to comment on the specifics of the trade, but he indicated a move was in the works when speaking to reporters at a charity golf tournament.
"Not naive that there's a lot in the social media sphere, media sphere regarding Myles," Berry said. "Nothing is final at this point. We are in discussions of a potential transaction including him. I'll have a lot more to say about it once it is final, if it does become final, and I'll discuss the details at that point. But we are in negotiations, we're hopeful that we can close something here in the next several hours. But nothing's final right yet."
It's a massive, game-changing move for the all-in Rams, who have never shied away from selling future assets for star talent. Snagging Garrett is the latest F-Them Picks maneuver from GM Les Snead, who previously has swung deals for Brandin Cooks, Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, Von Miller, Trent McDuffie, etc.
Verse is a good, young edge rusher, but he is not Garrett.
The NFL's best pass rusher is coming off a record-setting 23.0-sack campaign. Garrett has been named a first-team All-Pro in five of the past six seasons, earned six consecutive Pro Bowls and had at least 10 sacks in each of the past eight campaigns -- all but his rookie season in 2017.
A force of nature, Garrett wins off the line with a blink-of-an-eye first step and dominates with both finesse and power. The 30-year-old can single-handedly wreck offensive game plans and force teams to send double-teams and chips his way, making life easier for the rest of the unit.
In nine seasons, Garrett has gobbled up 125.5 career sacks, tied for 20th all-time. During his run, Cleveland struggled offensively, rarely giving the pass rusher opportunities to pin his ears back and snag garbage-time sacks with opponents in pass-first mode. In his nine years, the Browns never finished with an offense in the top 10 in EPA per play, and ranked dead last each of the past two seasons. That never slowed Garrett, who compiled 37 sacks in the last two campaigns.
Now imagine him playing opposite Stafford, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, Kyren Williams and the rest of Sean McVay's offense.
As Stafford put up an MVP season in 2025, the Rams defense struggled at times to get stops -- see: Seattle. Much of the issue was on the back end, which got repeatedly picked on. However, for spells, the pass rush went too quiet. Byron Young generated a team-high 12 sacks last year, with Verse coming in second with 7.5.
Enter: Garrett.
The Rams are the first team in NFL history to pair the reigning NFL MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, per NFL Network Research. They also boast the receptions leader (Nacua) and receiving touchdowns leader (Adams).
L.A. attacked the offseason, making big moves to revamp the secondary, trading a first-round pick to the Chiefs for McDuffie and adding Jaylen Watson in free agency.
Trading for Garrett trumps those moves, giving defensive coordinator Chris Shula the NFL's top defensive weapon to deploy. Front to back, the Rams made massive moves to upgrade the unit exponentially in 2026.
The controversial move of selecting Ty Simpson in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft likely helped L.A. make this trade. With their QB succession plan for the 38-year-old Stafford theoretically handled, they could afford to send first-round picks to Cleveland, believing they won't need to use that ammo for a signal-caller down the road.
The Browns vociferously insisted all offseason they weren't planning on trading Garrett, the face of the franchise, after inking him to a four-year, $160 million extension last offseason. Yet, when the club modified his option bonus from March to seven days before the regular season, it opened up a greater possibility of the Browns moving on from the edge rusher.
Despite Berry's protestations that he wouldn't trade Garrett, the fact that the star player had never met with new coach Todd Monken, stayed away from voluntary offseason workouts and had his contract adjusted provided breadcrumbs that a move might be coming.
Once they got past the June 1 deadline, the Browns signaled their full-on rebuild by moving their best player. Waiting until now has allowed Cleveland to split the $41 million in dead money on the salary cap over the next two seasons -- $15.53 million in 2026, $25.56 million in 2027 -- rather than taking it all on in 2026.
The Browns spent the offseason revamping their offense, completely overhauling the offensive line and drafting receivers KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston. However, the significant questions remain at quarterback, where Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders are expected to compete for the starting gig. If the franchise quarterback isn't on the roster, moving on from Garrett now allows them to obtain picks that could help obtain one down the road. If the Browns continued to flounder, the net return on the pass rusher one or two years from now would have been significantly less.
Trading Garrett takes a massive bite out of the Browns defense, but getting Verse back softens the blow a smidge. Last year, Garrett gobbled up 23 QB takedowns while no other player on the roster hit the seven-sack mark. Cleveland now adds Verse, a bull-dog pass rusher from Dayton, Ohio, who can run over blockers and brings upside. The timeline of Verse, who is still growing his game, better aligns with Cleveland's rebuild than the 30-plus-year-old Garrett.
Cleveland could have held firm and hoped to turn things around with Garrett in the next few seasons. However, his value was never going to be higher. The Rams offered a deal they couldn't refuse.
Following the ill-fated Watson gambit in 2022, the Browns have struggled to find any sort of footing, lack assets to make significant additions, and still have no clear future under center. In one swift move, they admitted they're still in the early stages of a rebuild under Monken and provided future picks to one day possibly get over that hump.
