Myles Garrett will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer someday. He is on a trajectory to be considered the greatest to ever play his position by the time he retires, whenever that day comes.
And yet there’s still an easy argument to be made that he was the wrong pick at the top of the 2017 NFL Draft.
As magnificent as Garrett was during his time with the Cleveland Browns, Patrick Mahomes went to the Kansas City Chiefs with the 10th pick in that same draft. Of course, no NFL general manager would’ve taken Mahomes over Garrett with the No. 1 pick at the time. With the benefit of hindsight, no general manager would pass up the chance now.
That isn’t a knock on Garrett, who exceeded expectations during his nine years in Cleveland. It’s merely an acknowledgement of the importance of the quarterback position in the NFL and why Garrett is a member of the Los Angeles Rams today.
The true measure of the Browns’ stunning trade of Garrett to the Rams won’t be determined by Jared Verse, regardless of how terrific a pass rusher he develops into for Cleveland. History will instead judge this trade by who is taking snaps at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in 2027, and what type of career that quarterback ultimately produces.
If the Browns use this moment as a pivot point, as a catapult of sorts to finally deliver on a franchise quarterback, then it will all be worth it. If the player they choose next year flops like so many others before him, Cleveland fans will spend another generation shaking their fists at what could have been with Garrett, the best pass rusher of his generation.
I already wrote about how this deal is the collateral damage to the Deshaun Watson disaster. The more subtle detail in all of this is how the Browns just admitted what they really think of their current quarterback room without saying anything at all.
If the Browns — or Garrett, if we’re being honest — truly believed either Watson or Shedeur Sanders was the long-term solution, there would have been no reason to make this deal. The franchise quarterback and star edge rusher could’ve locked arms and led this franchise into a new contention window this fall.
Garrett’s willingness to delay his salary from March until September, which allowed the Browns to rework his contract and make this trade more financially palatable, tells you what he really thought of Cleveland’s quarterback room and the team’s chances of getting it right anytime soon. And who could blame him for being skeptical?
Now, Browns GM Andrew Berry will take the Rams’ first pick in next year’s draft and go shopping. How he spends it will once and for all seal his fate as the leader of this organization.
No other GM in NFL history has been given this much runway to right his wrongs. Berry was the first one in on the idea of pursuing Watson. That alone would be enough to get most GMs fired, given how the trade collapsed the organization, but Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has shown extreme patience — perhaps to a fault — in allowing Berry to clean up his mess. Now, it appears Berry will get yet another crack at selecting the team’s next quarterback.
The Rams’ pick immediately becomes valuable trade capital in a loaded draft, should the Browns need to trade up to land Arch Manning or Dante Moore or LaNorris Sellers or Julian Sayin or whoever they target.
Of course, there is at least a decent chance Berry will be in range to select one of them without budging. Vegas had the Browns’ over/under at 6.5 wins this season before the team traded Garrett. If you see the same line available anywhere today, it might be wise to hammer that under.
If the Browns manage to get to seven or eight wins even without Garrett, if they fall closer to the 10th pick than the first, they now have the resources to move around the board.
Of course, I’ve been writing sentences like this for years. I first mentioned in December 2024 how the Browns might have to trade Garrett so Haslam could pursue Manning. It took a bit longer than I thought, but here we are.
It’s also worth noting that this is the second time in as many years that Berry has acquired an extra first-round pick in an upcoming draft. I absolutely believe the trade down with the Jacksonville Jaguars during last year’s draft was intended to acquire enough ammunition to move up and take a quarterback in April’s draft.
When the quarterback market crashed during last college football season, so did those plans. There was no quarterback deemed worthy of taking with the sixth pick, and there was no reasonable price to pay to acquire the top pick from the Las Vegas Raiders to draft Fernando Mendoza in what the league seemed to see as a one-quarterback draft.
So, the Browns did what they do best: They punted. Now, with the Garrett trade, the “new” extra first-rounder sets them up for yet another swing at a quarterback in a draft that should be full of elite prospects.
Where does that leave Watson and Sanders? In purgatory, mostly. It looks like the Browns are committed to squeezing out whatever is left within Watson. After so many injuries, after so much ineffectiveness, it seems unreasonable to believe a career renaissance is looming over the horizon.
And if they thought Sanders was the ultimate answer, none of this would be necessary. There would be no plans to start Watson, and there would be no reason to trade Garrett. If by some stroke of luck, Sanders gets an opportunity to start and seizes the job — and really, what are the odds Watson can remain healthy for an entire season? — the Browns will once again look foolish for wasting time with Watson and trading Garrett. I doubt anyone believes that is likely.
The biggest winner in all of this is Garrett. He got the massive contract he wanted last winter, and now he gets a new home, a stable organization and a chance to pursue a Super Bowl trophy.
Both sides got what they wanted. Garrett is beginning a legitimate chase for a championship. The Browns are chasing hope. Again.