Myles Garrett spent nine seasons as the face of the Cleveland Browns defense, setting franchise records and becoming the player the team built its identity around. Following his departure, new and more nuanced details of Garrett’s impact inside the locker room has come out.
Jun 6, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams defensive end Myles Garrett looks on prior to throwing out the honorary first pitch before a game between the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images
The Browns traded Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams on June 1 in exchange for edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a conditional 2029 third-round pick. Garrett, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, finished his Browns career with 125.5 sacks, 293 solo tackles, 149 tackles for loss and 239 quarterback hits across nine seasons. Cleveland went 54-79-1 during his tenure.
Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com offered a candid assessment of Garrett’s standing inside the building following the trade. Her report described a player who earned respect but never became the locker room’s emotional center, a distinction that shaped how the team viewed his departure.
“While Garrett was respected and revered by his teammates, he wasn’t necessarily universally loved,” Cabot wrote. “And while he evolved as a leader over the years, he wasn’t the great unifier the Browns always hoped he’d be, often keeping to his tight inner circle away from team headquarters.”
Cabot expanded on that dynamic in a separate detail. She wrote that the team revolved so heavily around Garrett that he “often unwittingly dwarfed his teammates,” a dynamic that may have limited the kind of collective identity some locker rooms develop around a single star.
Meanwhile, Verse addressed the comparison directly upon arriving in Cleveland. “I’m not here to fill his shoes, I’m here to bring my own,” Verse said shortly after the trade. “I’m here to be the best version of me, and the best version of me is gonna be the best defensive player in the league.”He has already drawn praise from teammates for his early energy at voluntary workouts that Garrett often skipped.
Browns defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire described what stood out about Verse immediately. “I asked him, ‘Hey, what do you expect out of this? What do you want to do here?'” Cesaire said. “The first thing he said is, ‘I want to make sure that I play so hard that everyone around me eats.'” That answer contrasted directly with Cabot’s framing of Garrett’s more insular approach.
Mary Kay Cabot’s Honest Assessment of Garrett’s Leadership
Cabot’s reporting extended beyond leadership style into specific game decisions. She said teammates may have deliberately backed off plays late in the 2025 season to help Garrett reach his single-season sack record, which finished at 23.0 and broke the mark of 22.5 shared by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt.
“There was a reticence on the part of some of these other players to steal a little bit of Myles’s production,” Cesaire told Cabot. “Everyone knew that he was going for the sack record, and I think those guys knew to back off or just take that last little step off and let Miles get the production.”
Garrett, a seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, has not publicly responded to Cabot’s comments. Garrett now joins a strong Rams defense that reached the NFC Championship last season, while the Browns head into training camp with Jared Verse as the new face of their defensive line.
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