The dust is starting to settle on the most shocking transaction in recent Browns history, and the takes are beginning to center around what every Cleveland fan is wrestling with right now. Was trading Myles Garrett the right thing to do?
92.3 The Fan’s Anthony Lima came in with a clear answer, and his reasoning goes deeper than just the trade itself.
“You can’t deny this was the right move. I think the Browns are as well suited as they’ve ever been to build this thing the right way,” Lima said.
"You can't deny this was the right move… I think the Browns are as well suited as they've ever been to build this thing the right way."
🚨@SportsBoyTony says the Browns made the right move in trading Myles Garrett pic.twitter.com/iiFiL1hUmv
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) June 2, 2026
The Deshaun Watson contract did not just cost the Browns wins and draft picks. It cost them the ability to build around their best player the right way. When you hand a quarterback a fully guaranteed $230 million contract and he proceeds to play a combined 19 games across four seasons while collecting every dollar, the ripple effects touch every corner of the organization. The Browns could not realistically build a legitimate Super Bowl contender around Garrett because the financial and roster construction damage from the Watson deal left them perpetually constrained. Trading Garrett was the inevitable conclusion of a chain of events that started the day Cleveland made the worst transaction in NFL history.
The Browns were not going to win a Super Bowl with Watson under contract, regardless of how many sacks Garrett recorded. Recognizing that reality and converting Garrett into the building blocks for a legitimate future was the only logical response to an illogical situation that was not of Garrett’s making.
What Cleveland received in return, Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick, represents the kind of foundation that championship organizations are built on. Two first round picks in 2027 alone, with a draft class that is widely projected to be loaded at quarterback, gives Andrew Berry the tools to find the franchise signal caller that this team has been searching for since Bernie Kosar was taking snaps at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
Lima is right that Browns fans should feel good about the future. The path that got here was painful and frustrating and cost this franchise years that can never be recovered. But the destination that the Garrett trade has now set up is one that every Browns fan should be genuinely excited about.
Build it right this time. The pieces are in place to do exactly that.
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