Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year.
Getty
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year.
Any team that wants Myles Garrett is going to have to blow the Cleveland Browns out of the water, and investing the necessary draft capital in such a transaction only makes sense for a franchise that believes it is one great player away from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
Enter the Los Angeles Rams, Super Bowl champions following the 2021 campaign who have been in the playoffs each of the past three seasons, losing in the Wildcard Round in 2023, the Divisional Round in 2024 and the NFC Championship Game in January to the eventual champion Seattle Seahawks.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is the reigning NFL MVP but has just one year remaining on his contract and is in his late 30s. The team’s biggest weakness last season was its secondary, so L.A. traded a haul for All-Pro Trent McDuffie and then signed the Kansas City Chiefs‘ other starting cornerback, Jaylen Watson, in free agency.
Los Angeles still holds the No. 13 pick in Round 1 and the 61st selection in Round 2 this year. The Rams have the rights to their first-round selection in 2027 as well, and packaging all three of those assets together starts to put L.A. in the realm of what it might take to pry Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, from Cleveland’s clutches.
Rams in Favor of Browns’ Proposed Rule Change to Allow NFL Teams to Trade More Draft Picks
Myles Garrett
GettyCleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.
Mike Sando of The Athletic quoted an unnamed executive earlier this week who said that despite GM Andrew Berry’s comments on the Browns’ intention to keep Garrett longterm (he is under contract through 2030), Cleveland’s decision to rework Garrett’s contract language points to a trade coming down the pike.
“The report of the option bonus date moving later for Myles Garrett makes me think Cleveland is planning on trading him,” the front office member told Sando.
Sando added his own take on the recent developments, particularly in the context of a proposed, though since withdrawn, rule change from the Browns to allow teams to trade first-round picks five years in advance instead of the league’s current limit of three years in advance.
“While the Browns were the ones proposing a rules change allowing teams to trade draft choices further into the future, the Rams have been most outspoken in favor of the change,” Sando wrote. “Could that be because the Rams, desperate to win a championship in what could be Matthew Stafford’s final season, are interested in a certain Browns defensive lineman whose contract recently became easier to trade?”
Browns Can Acquire Trade Return for Myles Garrett That Will Allow Them to Secure Franchise QB in 2027
Arch Manning, Texas Longhorns
GettyTexas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning.
Even without access to first-round picks beyond 2028 in a hypothetical trade, Cleveland could ask for a package more suited to its needs were it to deal Garrett — either to the Rams, or elsewhere — given that the defensive end’s value is at an all-time high after breaking the NFL’s single-season record with 23 sacks last year.
For instance, Cleveland could ask the Rams for the No. 13 pick this year as well as L.A.’s first- and second-round picks in 2027. Browns reporter Tony Grossi speculated in late March that Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam will be most inclined to trade Garrett next year, if doing so can get the team in the mix to select QB Arch Manning out of Texas.
As such, more draft capital next spring might prove of greater value to Cleveland. In the meantime, moving on from Garrett now for a bigger payoff down the line probably pushes the Browns closer to the top of next year’s draft order.
That means if Cleveland doesn’t land the No. 1 pick next season, it will hold the rights to at least a high first-rounder and high second-rounder of its own, plus a late first-rounder from Los Angeles in 2027 — all of which the Browns could attempt to package and move up to the 1st overall pick, where they could select Manning before any other franchise gets a chance.