No other NFL franchise can match the Browns’ expertise in destroying goodwill.
After general manager Andrew Berry received widespread praise for the picks he made in late April during the 2026 NFL Draft, the Browns have, checks notes, pushed Deshaun Watson as the front-runner to win their starting quarterback job and traded the best defensive player to ever wear a Cleveland uniform.
The Browns agreeing to trade all-world defensive end Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, June 1, stems from the fallout of the Watson deal Cleveland executed four years ago. Any attempt to downplay the link is disingenuous.
Did Browns get enough from Rams in Myles Garrett trade?
In Berry’s defense, trading Garrett has been a logical move since February 2025, when the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft publicly requested to be shipped from Cleveland to a Super Bowl contender. And it makes sense because the Browns set themselves back years with the Watson deal.
Now, by the time the Browns actually traded Garrett, were they more than a year late? And did they get enough in return?
Garrett turned 30 on Dec. 29. He was 29 at the time of his February 2025 trade demand. He is coming off his best statistical season, so it’s hard to imagine his stock has dropped in the past 16 months.
On the other hand, did the Browns fully capitalize on Garrett’s stock? NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reported the Rams were “the one and only team to pursue” Garrett, a seven-time Pro Bowl and five-time first-team All-Pro selection. If you’re going to trade him, why not hold a bidding war to maximize the haul? Sixteen months ago, Garrett set the stage for a sweepstakes.
In exchange for Garrett, the Browns received defensive end Jared Verse, the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2024 who has made the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons, and the following three draft picks from the Rams: 2027 first round, 2028 second round and 2029 third round.
In the last year, edge rusher Micah Parsons and cornerback Sauce Gardner each netted two first-round picks and a player when they were traded by the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets, respectively, to the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts.
Even if Verse continues to play at a Pro Bowl level, it’s fair to question why Berry couldn’t secure two first-round choices in the Garrett trade. In other words, should the Browns have held out for more based on precedent, like demanding the 2028 second-round pick the Rams surrendered be upgraded to another first-round selection?
After all, this is Myles Garrett we’re talking about here. He’s a future first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer whose name can legitimately be mentioned alongside all-time defensive icons Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White. With Berry taking only one Round 1 pick back for Garrett, the GM had better find a way to use it to solve Cleveland’s search for a long-term starting quarterback.
The logic is clear. Myles Garrett trade gives Browns chance to compensate for swing and miss with Deshaun Watson
Trading Garrett presented the Browns with a convenient pathway to rebuild after they were severely burned by sending six draft choices, including three in the first round, to the Houston Texans in exchange for Watson in March 2022. After Watson’s camp informed the Browns he wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause for them, Cleveland offered him a five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
The Browns begged Watson and gambled on him with a record-setting amount of guaranteed money, even though he had been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual assault or sexual misconduct during massage appointments when he was a member of the Texans. The final season of Watson’s contract will begin when the Browns visit the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 13.
Watson has gone 9-10 in 19 starts for the Browns, with an 11-game suspension tied to the aforementioned allegations, a surgery to his throwing shoulder and two surgeries to repair a twice-ruptured right Achilles tendon in the mix.
Cleveland’s career leader with 125.5 sacks, Garrett publicly supported Watson time and again. But Garrett more strongly supported his own desire to win a Super Bowl, and the Browns have yet to recover from the worst trade in NFL history, one they’re still attempting to salvage with Watson positioned as the favorite in an offseason QB duel with Shedeur Sanders.
After Garrett’s trade request in early 2025, which came on the heels of a 3-14 Browns season and was intensified by the edge rusher vocally flirting with the notion of playing for other teams amid a media blitz on Super Bowl Radio Row, he made nice with Cleveland the next month by signing a four-year, $160 million contract extension. The deal included $123 million guaranteed.
Then in the 2025 season, Garrett won his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year award and set the league’s official single-season sack record with 23 (he tied the unofficial record Al “Bubba” Baker established in 1978). Despite Garrett taking his individual excellence to new heights, the Browns produced another dud of a season, finished 5-12 and fired coach Kevin Stefanski.
Two days before the Browns won their 2025 regular-season finale at the Cincinnati Bengals, Garrett stopped short of pledging allegiance to Cleveland when a reporter asked him if he were fully committed to the franchise.
“I’m committed to winning, and as long as the team and organization are doing so and they’re committed to that same thing, then I’m all on board,” Garrett said on Jan. 2. “But if we’re thinking anything other than winning — tanking or rebuilding — that’s not me.”
Did Myles Garrett request a trade again, this time behind the scenes?
Other hints pointing to a renewed exit strategy emerged this offseason.
The Browns pushed back option bonuses in Garrett’s contract from the 15th day of the league year in March to seven days before the start of the regular season in September, increasing flexibility for a trade to occur. In the meantime, Garrett never visited Browns headquarters to meet new coach Todd Monken or new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg, who replaced a DC for whom Garrett holds tremendous respect, Jim Schwartz. A minority owner of the Cavaliers, Garrett attended Game 1 of the Cavs’ first-round playoff series against Toronto Raptors on April 18 in Cleveland without rendezvousing with the Browns bosses. Monken has been with the Browns since January and Rutenberg since February.
The statements the Browns released from Berry and owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam about the Garrett trade combined for 587 words. None of the messaging claimed Garrett once again requested a trade, but it should come as no surprise if he did so behind the scenes this offseason. His aggressive public approach didn’t get the job done in 2025. Using a different strategy would have been a no-brainer. Either way, Garrett had a no-trade clause and needed to waive it to join the Rams.
The statements from Browns brass include Berry acknowledging he views trading Garrett as a way to restock the team. He didn’t mention which previous blockbuster deal left the cupboard lacking.
“We recognize the unexpected nature of this trade, but it opens up great opportunities for our franchise,” Berry said in the statement. “We are excited to welcome Jared [Verse] into the organization, along with the cap flexibility and draft pick resources to deploy to the rest of the roster that will allow us to add to our budding core on both sides of the ball.”
A “budding core” is not a Super Bowl core.
The Browns have gone 8-26 since they last made the playoffs in 2023, when Joe Flacco quarterbacked them to a December hot streak and an 11-6 regular-season finish after Watson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. With the Browns, Garrett experienced two playoff seasons (2020 and 2023) and went 1-2 in the postseason.
In Los Angeles, Garrett is expected to fill the role of a dominant pass rusher left behind by three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald, who retired after the 2023 season.
Donald helped the 2021 Rams win the Super Bowl. Browns fans need to brace for the pain of watching Garrett assist LA with another title quest.
Trading Garrett is an understandable decision, but only because of a predicament the Browns created for themselves.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Myles Garrett trade logical for Browns due to previous whiff. Opinion
Reporting by Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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