'The Insiders' react to Rams acquiring DE Myles Garrett from Browns
NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Judy Battista share their thoughts to the trade that sent defensive end Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns to the Los Angeles Rams.
Video Transcript
Miles Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
The single-season sack King is headed to the Rams in a massive trade that sends two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Jarrett Burse and three draft picks, including a first-rounder in 2027 to the Browns.
Garrett waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the deal, which comes a little over a year after Cleveland signed him to a record-breaking contract extension.
Ian, walk me through how this got done now.
Well, first of all, Tom, you summed it up.
A blockbuster day and certainly the biggest defensive trade in NFL history, one of the biggest and most stunning moves in recent memory.
Miles Garrett becomes a member of the Rams simply because they would not give up.
Now, my understanding is when the Cleveland Browns redid Miles Garrett's contract to move some bonuses up in the year to a little bit later in the year, the Rams started calling, targeting Miles Garrett, trying to see.
If the Cleveland Browns would part ways with him.
They would not.
They were told firmly, no, he is not someone they would ever consider trading.
After the draft, they kept after it and kept after it.
The Browns were not into a package of picks.
They finally said, All right, if you're going to acquire Miles Garrett from us, Jared Burse has to be in the deal.
Well, the Rams didn't want to do that.
He's one of the best young edges in the NFL.
Finally, the Rams relented.
The two sides got together on picks and Over the course of the last let's say 48 hours or so, they got close enough to a deal that earlier today we were able to report that they were finalizing and shortly around after 4 p.m. we knew that it was done and official.
Miles Garrett, one of the best players, certainly the best defensive player in the NFL, he goes from the Browns to the Rams as they go, Judy, all in for a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Well, if you look back at the Rams' season last season, December and January, they were giving up a lot of points.
They were still winning most of the games, but that was because their offense was also scoring a lot of points .
But they were giving up a ton of points.
And in those last two games against the Seattle Seahawks, the last of the regular season games, and then of course in the conference championship game, they gave up a total of 69 points to the.
Hawks.
So when they took a step back and looked at why they barely missed going to the Super Bowl, it wasn't the offense that needed to be fixed, it was the defense.
And so we've seen them all offseason be really aggressive, pushing to fix that defense.
Of course they addressed the secondary first, and then they addressed the pass rush, which they were manufacturing a lot of pass rush last season, and that's fine, but when they're not getting home, you need.
Somebody who can be a closer.
What bringing Miles Garrett in does for them is, first of all, it can alleviate a little of the pressure on the offense.
They don't have to keep throwing the ball and scoring, scoring, scoring, because you know their defense is going to be able to close out games because if they get a lead, you can unleash Miles Garrett.
As for the Browns, this is an admission they probably don't have the quarterback on the roster.
This is a time to make moves to shore up their capital to go forward.
They do have a lot of capital now.
They have money.
They have draft picks.
They can build for the future.
They've got some really good young talent from the past two drafts on the Cleveland Browns, but in terms of timing, it just didn't line up with keeping Miles Garrett on the roster.
And for the Rams, this is the absolute perfect time to go get a guy like this.
Also worth keeping in mind here , the Browns had said repeatedly they did not intend to trade Miles Garrett, they wanted him to be a Brown for life, and my understanding is they didn't think going into this, they would get the package of player and picks that they end up getting in this trade.
Jared Burse is a very, very good young player who's been to 2 Pro Bowls in his 1st 2 seasons.
He is under team control for the foreseeable future.
If he were traded in isolation.
They probably would have gotten a 1st round pick and more in exchange for Jared Vurse to get that player to help anchor a new defense in Cleveland, plus 3 draft picks that gives them 12 picks now in the 1st 3 rounds over the next 3 drafts.
This is all part of the organizational reset that really began last year in Cleveland.
You get a 30-year-old player now who goes to the Rams, who once again are all in.
