It actually happened. After months of speculation on whether or not the Cleveland Browns would trade arguably the best football player in the world, Myles Garrett, they actually pulled the trigger and sent him to the Los Angeles Rams for a massive haul.

I can confidently say that, in my 24 years of life, I’ve never seen the best player in any major sport just get shipped away like this. There have been some big NFL trades in my lifetime, but this one has to take the cake, right? It has to be one of the five biggest trades in NFL history.

I still can’t believe this trade actually happened, and after sitting on it for a day, I’m wondering whether or not this was actually the right move for Cleveland.

The Haul

Let’s start with the haul. The Browns received a king’s ransom for Garrett, receiving one of the best young pass rushers in the NFL in Jared Verse, the all-valuable 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick.

Let’s start with Jared Verse. I have seen people online slandering him and questioning whether or not he’s even worth a first-round pick. If you don’t think Verse is worth a first rounder, you just don’t know ball. The kid is 25 years old, has finished top-six in pressures in each of his first two seasons and has three years left on his rookie deal. If a team wanted to trade for him, it would’ve cost at least two first rounders, in my opinion. He’s arguably a top-10 piece in terms of trade value in the entire league.

On top of that, the Browns also received a 2027 first-round pick. This pick is obviously expected to be in the 28-32 range, but if the 2027 class actually lives up to the hype, that pick could still net them a Pro Bowl-caliber player. Plus, the Rams are just a couple of key injuries away from this being a top-20 pick.

I won’t even pretend like I know enough about the 2028 or 2029 class to say how valuable those two picks would be, but they’re both going to be top-100 picks, so while they’re 2-3 years down the line, they’re still valuable to a team that’s probably 2-3 years away from being super competitive.

In my eyes, the Browns essentially got three first-round picks, a second rounder and a third rounder in return for Myles Garrett. At the worst, it’s two firsts, two seconds and a third. That’s a pretty large haul.

Did Cleveland Get Fleeced?

The big question everyone is asking is, did the Browns get fleeced? I have seen some very mixed opinions on this, but I don’t think they got fleeced at all.

Losing arguably the best player in the sport is always going to be a massive blow. You literally cannot find a replacement for someone like Myles Garrett, but right now, Cleveland doesn’t need Myles Garrett. They’re not a 30-year-old pass rusher away from making the playoffs. They need future assets, so in 2-3 years, once they’ve built this roster up some more, they can be competitive.

They got the future assets they needed, too. I’ve seen a lot of fans making fun of the fact that Sauce Gardner fetched two first rounders while Garrett only fetched one, but I said it before and I’ll say it again, Jared Verse is worth two first rounders in my book. You won’t find many 25 year old pass rushers as good as him with three years left on his rookie deal on the side of the road. He is one of the most valuable pieces in the entire NFL, and on top of that, they got a 2027 first rounder plus more draft capital. What more could you ask for?

Could the Browns be Cooking up Another Trade?

It’s no secret that the Browns need a quarterback. It’s also no secret that the 2027 is supposed to be loaded with quarterback talent. Guys like Dante Moore, Arch Manning, Trinidad Chambliss, CJ Carr, CJ Bailey, Jayden Maiava, Darian Mensah, Drew Mestemaker, Julian Sayin and LaNorris Sellers could all put themselves into first round conversations by April next year.

If things don’t work out with Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders this year, the Browns could very well be in the market for one of the top quarterbacks in the class. Typically, Cleveland is picking towards the top of the draft order, but after a pretty strong offseason, I think it’s more likely they’re picking in the 8-12 range than the 1-5 range. This means, in order to lock in one of the top signal callers, they might have to make a trade to move up in the draft.

With two first rounders in 2027 and an extra second in 2028, the Browns have plenty of ammunition to try to jump into the top-three to select their quarterback of the future next year. Let’s say they flip their two first rounders and their 2028 second rounder into Arch Manning or Dante Moore, all of a sudden, this Myles Garrett trade looks like a genius move. Netting your franchise quarterback and an elite young edge rusher for a 30-year-old pass rusher is a great move for a rebuilding team, even if the 30-year-old is the best defender in the NFL.

If the Raiders, Titans or another bottom team that already has their quarterback in place ends up picking in the top-three, look for Cleveland to use some of these picks to move up next April.

Browns Future Outlook

I was not a fan of how this offseason began for Cleveland. They fired two-time Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski and had to settle for Todd Monken as their new head coach after missing out on a lot of other top targets. However, the moves Monken and Andrew Berry have made this offseason has completely changed how I feel about this team.

Let’s start with free agency. Losing guys like Devin Bush, David Njoku and Wyatt Teller certainly wasn’t ideal, but I thought they did a terrific job rebuilding their offensive line, bringing in guys like Elgton Jenkins and Zion Johnson while trading for Tytus Howard. I was also a big fan of the Quincy Williams signing. He can step in and fill Devin Bush’s hole right away.

With most of their offensive line handled in free agency, it opened things up for the Browns to do whatever they wanted in the draft. They still added to the trenches early with Spencer Fano, but after that, they doubled down on receivers with KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston before trading back into the second round for a sliding Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.

This roster is already much better than it was a year ago, and now they have a great young pass rusher to replace Myles Garrett, plus a ton of draft capital to improve this team in the coming years.

On paper, losing Myles Garrett hurts, but I think it will end up being a good move for Cleveland in the end.