The Los Angeles Rams are at it again.
L.A. has acquired reigning AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett in a trade with the Browns, shipping Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick to Cleveland, the teams announced on Monday.
NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero and ESPN's Adam Schefter initially reported the trade earlier in the day.
"We have long taken the stance that our goal was for Myles Garrett to be a one-helmet player for his entire career," Browns general manager Andrew Berry said in a statement. "After rewriting the record books and representing our organization with excellence, we were sincere in that desire as we entered this offseason and did not envision a world where Myles was not a Cleveland Brown.
"When the Rams first approached us with the possibility of trading Myles, we remained convicted in our position, but as discussions intensified we were stuck at a legitimate crossroads: [D]o we hold on to a truly generational player who has become the identity of our team, or do we make the difficult decision that we think is best for the organization over the long run?
"In that framework, the decision became clear, although our emotions were muddled. We, and more importantly, our fans, have grown up with Myles, and he's an enormous source of pride for our team. However, as we embark on a new era of Browns football with a young core and a replenished asset base, we felt this move was important to our transition."
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 "Eff-Them Picks" maneuver from general manager Les Snead, who previously has swung deals for Brandin Cooks, Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, Von Miller and Trent McDuffie, with the latter coming earlier this offseason.
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-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.
"Chief among the considerations to make the decision was the inclusion of Jared Verse -- a player our fan base will love," Berry said. "At 25 years old with two Pro Bowls and a Defensive Rookie of the Year award under his belt, we receive a young, elite player at a premium position who will only continue to improve in his third NFL season. Jared's passion and relentless style of play will be embraced by our fans. He will fit right in with the established identity of our defense."
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.
