Myles Garrett’s Cleveland run is over, and the Rams are making another all-in swing.
The Los Angeles Rams have agreed to acquire Garrett from the Cleveland Browns in a blockbuster trade that sends outside linebacker Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick to Cleveland, according to the Rams’ official announcement. The move gives Los Angeles one of the NFL’s most disruptive defensive players and closes the book on one of the most productive individual careers in Browns history.
For Cleveland, this is not just a roster transaction. Garrett was the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, the face of the defense, and the player most closely tied to the Browns’ modern identity. For the Rams, it is a familiar kind of bet: give up premium assets now for a player who can change a playoff game by himself.
The Rams paid a real price for Garrett
The trade package is heavy because Garrett is still playing at a rare level. Los Angeles is sending Verse and three future picks to Cleveland, including a first-rounder in 2027, per the team-announced terms also detailed by NFL.com’s trade report.
That matters because Verse is not a throw-in. He gives Cleveland a younger edge defender to build with, while the draft picks give the Browns flexibility over the next three offseasons.
Still, Garrett is the player who changes the headline. He enters Los Angeles as the reigning AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year after a 2025 season in which he set the NFL single-season sack record with 23 sacks. The Rams also noted that Garrett has produced 125.5 sacks through nine NFL seasons and has hit double-digit sacks every year since his second season.
Why the timing feels so sharp
The move lands only a year after Garrett and the Browns appeared to settle a public standoff. In March 2025, Garrett agreed to a four-year extension averaging $40 million per year with $123 million guaranteed, a deal that made him the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback at the time, according to NFL.com’s report on the extension.
That deal seemed to shut down the trade conversation. Instead, it became a pause before a much bigger turn.
The Browns’ own messaging shows how difficult the decision was. General manager Andrew Berry said the team had wanted Garrett to be “a one-helmet player,” but that the Rams’ offer forced Cleveland into a long-term organizational call.
Garrett leaves Cleveland with a complicated but massive legacy
Garrett’s Browns career ended with numbers that will be difficult for the franchise to match. Cleveland’s own goodbye piece framed his final chapter around the sack that broke the single-season record, calling it a moment that would live in Browns history. The Browns’ tribute to Garrett’s Cleveland legacy also confirmed the full return: Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick.
Garrett gave Cleveland eight straight double-digit sack seasons, multiple All-Pro campaigns, and a Defensive Player of the Year peak. The harder part for Browns fans is that all of it came during a stretch where the team never fully turned his individual dominance into sustained postseason success.
That tension is why this trade feels bigger than a star changing uniforms. It is the Browns admitting that even a generational pass rusher may not be enough to hold the current timeline together.
What changes for the Rams now
The Rams are not adding Garrett as a luxury piece. They are adding him as a defensive centerpiece.
Elite edge rushers travel well in January. They pressure quarterbacks without needing blitz help, wreck third downs, and force offensive coordinators to tilt protections before the ball is snapped. Garrett does all of that, and he does it with a recent production line that leaves no mystery about whether he is still near the top of the sport.
Los Angeles is taking on the cost, the expectations, and the pressure that comes with a move this aggressive. But that has been the Rams’ operating style for years: when a true difference-maker becomes available, they do not usually wait for the safe version of the deal.
Cleveland gets assets. Los Angeles gets Myles Garrett.
That is the trade, and the bet behind it is obvious.
