The Myles Garrett trade divided opinions the moment it was announced, and the debate over whether Cleveland made the right call has not fully quieted down since. Trading away a franchise cornerstone and two-time Defensive Player of the Year was never going to be a universally popular decision, regardless of what came back in return. But as the offseason has played out and the full picture of the return has come into clearer focus, more national voices have started landing firmly on the side of the Browns in this deal.
ESPN’s Seth Walder offered one of the biggest endorsements yet in his 2026 offseason grades piece.
“There can be reasonable debate over the Rams’ side of this trade, but this was an unquestioned home run for Cleveland. Garrett is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and just broke the single-season sack record, but he is 30 years old, and the Browns are not close to contention. By the time they get there, Garrett will be well into his decline. To turn Garrett, whose superstardom was worth less to the woebegone Browns than to any contender, into Verse and picks that can help build the next good Cleveland roster is solid team building,” Walder wrote.
Garrett’s dominance on the field has never been in question, but his value to a team that was not positioned to compete for a championship in the near term was always going to be limited no matter how many sacks he produced on a Sunday afternoon.
Garrett turning 30 this offseason means that even under the most optimistic projection for Cleveland’s rebuild, the window where he would still be playing at an elite level and the Browns would be genuinely competing for a Super Bowl do not necessarily overlap the way they would need to in order to justify holding onto him. Trading a player when his value is at its absolute peak, coming off a Defensive Player of the Year season and a single-season sack record, is exactly the kind of calculated move that separates smart front offices from reactive ones.
Getting Jared Verse in return gives Cleveland a young pass rusher with two strong seasons already on his resume and plenty of runway left in front of him. Berry has consistently demonstrated a willingness to make bold moves when the timing is right, and Walder’s evaluation suggests this one will ultimately be viewed as one of the defining decisions of his tenure in Cleveland.
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