Mark Schlereth Declares His Winner In Myles Garrett Trade

The debate over who won the Myles Garrett trade is not going away anytime soon, and one of the most respected voices in football just made his position clear. Three time Super Bowl champion and longtime NFL analyst Mark Schlereth is pushing back hard on the popular narrative that the Los Angeles Rams walked away with the better end of this deal.

Schlereth did not mince words.

“And so I understand where people’s perspective is, oh the Rams clearly won the deal. But I disagree with that. I think the Cleveland Browns have done an exceptional job. One, Jared Verse, right? He was the Defensive Rookie of the Year a couple years ago. He is a two-time Pro Bowler. And the guy is an exceptional football player. I mean, exceptional football player both in the run and the pass. And so you’ve gotten a guy that hasn’t even reached his prime in Jared Verse that you traded for. You also got a first-round draft choice. I get a lot of people saying, ‘Well with the LA Rams, you know that’s going to be probably in the late 20s, 30s.’ Coupled with your first-round draft choice, which is……in next year’s draft, considered one of the best drafts in recent history, the Manning draft, and then you got a second and a third. So when you look at the haul that the Cleveland Browns got, I don’t think they lost this deal at all,” Schlereth said.

The Rams won the trade or did they? https://t.co/m6ZMC3Qni1 pic.twitter.com/PtSULal2Kt

— Mark Schlereth (@markschlereth) June 3, 2026

The Verse piece of this is the part that deserves the most attention. He is 25 years old, has back-to-back Pro Bowl selections already on his resume, and earned Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in his first season. As Schlereth correctly points out, Verse has not even entered the prime years of his career yet. The Browns are not getting a player on the back nine of his career. They are getting a player who should be hitting his absolute peak right as Cleveland is trying to compete for championships.

Then there is the draft capital surrounding him. The Rams first round pick may land in the late 20s given how competitive Los Angeles figures to be in 2026, but pairing it with Cleveland’s own first-rounder in what is widely being called the Manning draft gives the Browns two premium selections in one of the most talented draft classes in recent memory. Add a second and a third on top of that and the full picture of this return becomes very difficult to argue against.

Browns fans had every right to be emotional when Garrett was traded. He was one of the best players in franchise history. But the more the football world examines what Cleveland got back, the clearer it becomes that Andrew Berry did his job exceptionally well.