Myles Garrett, who asked the Cleveland Browns for a trade in February 2025, is now with the Los Angeles Rams after Monday’s blockbuster deal. The move sends a clear message to Rams fans: this is a win-now swing built around Garrett’s pass-rushing force and qua
When Myles Garrett walked out of the Cleveland era, he didn’t leave behind a vague goodbye. He left behind a record book.
A month after he requested a trade from the Browns in February 2025. Garrett instead signed a four-year contract extension with Cleveland—setting a marker as the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. But last season was always the bridge. The Browns finished 5-12. and Garrett still made history in the only uniform he could call home—breaking the NFL all-time single-season sack record with 23 sacks. in what would end up being his final season with the franchise that drafted him first overall in 2017.
Now that bridge is crossed.
On Monday. the Browns traded Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for edge rusher Jared Verse. a 2027 first-round draft pick. a 2028 second-round draft pick. and a 2029 third-round draft pick. The deal comes with a clean headline figure: Garrett is taking his $160 million to Los Angeles. arriving with the explicit intention of competing for the biggest prize—one he said he was aiming for when he first asked to be moved.
Later that night, Garrett posted a lengthy farewell letter to Cleveland and Browns fans. By Tuesday, he was in Los Angeles, stepping into a new chapter and addressing the crowd that will measure his success in postseason terms.
“Rams Nation, so excited to be here,” Garrett said in a video posted by the Rams. “So excited to be in this city and play with this team. Very excited to play for a championship here at the end of the year. Let’s go.”
The message is simple. The timing isn’t.
The Rams have already spent this offseason tightening the bolts around their championship belief. They became Super Bowl favorites after trading for then-Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie in March. Adding Garrett turned that optimism into something heavier—especially because Los Angeles already has the quarterback in place to make an aggressive roster plan feel immediate.
It has become familiar offseason talk that the Rams also employ the reigning NFL MVP, quarterback Matthew Stafford, who led the league’s most prolific offense in 2025. When Garrett arrived, coach Sean McVay framed the move in terms of opportunity and urgency.
“We feel really fortunate that this feels very similar when we were fortunate enough to be able to acquire a player like Matthew Stafford,” McVay said at Garrett’s Rams introductory presser. “Things like this don’t present themselves, and we wanted to be aggressive.”
Stafford’s road to Los Angeles goes back to January 2021, when the Rams acquired him from the Detroit Lions. That season’s ending is the reason the organization feels comfortable chasing now rather than later. The following season, the Rams won Super Bowl LVI in their home SoFi Stadium.
Since then, the closest they’ve come was last season’s run to the NFC Championship Game, where they fell short against the eventual champion Seattle Seahawks. With Stafford entering his age-38 season, the Rams’ window looks less like a slow-build franchise plan and more like a one- or two-year push.
Garrett’s departure from Cleveland underlines what Los Angeles is buying. He leaves the Browns as the franchise’s all-time leader in sacks (125.5), quarterback hits (239), and tackles for loss (149). In other words. he’s not arriving as a promising piece—he’s arriving as the type of disruptor teams build game plans around.
The sequence now makes the stakes feel unavoidable: Garrett asked for a trade. Cleveland signed him to keep him through at least one more meaningful year. he produced 23 sacks while breaking the league’s single-season sack mark. and then Monday’s blockbuster finally moved him to the opponent that will ask him to turn pressure into playoff results.
The Rams have gone all in on winning another Super Bowl at SoFi next February. Garrett is in the mix now—bringing the kind of front-seven demand that doesn’t wait for tomorrow.
Myles Garrett Cleveland Browns Los Angeles Rams Jared Verse Matthew Stafford Trent McDuffie Super Bowl NFL trade sacks NFL MVP Sean McVay