‘Opportunity was too great’: Browns GM was ‘not expecting’ to trade Myles Garrett

On Monday evening, news broke that the Cleveland Browns were trading superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Chargers in a blockbuster deal that shocked the NFL world. Apparently, the trade even came as a bit of a surprise to the guy who helped put it together.

During his press conference on Tuesday morning, Browns General Manager Andrew Berry opened up a little bit about the blockbuster trade that sent Garrett to Los Angeles in return for young pass rusher Jared Verse and three draft picks, as he admitted that the trade was not initially part of the plan, but turned out to be an opportunity he just could not pass up.

Not On the ‘Bingo Card’

During his press conference on Tuesday, Berry admitted that trading away the team’s star player was not something that he had on his “bingo card” for the offseason.

Berry said that Garrett had not requested a trade from the team and the Browns “weren’t auctioning him off” around the league because there simply weren’t many places the team could find a trade partner that would give them a strong enough return for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

Ultimately, though, the Rams were able to put together a package that Berry and the Browns simply couldn’t refuse. And that, Berry says, caused him to pull the trigger.

“In terms of the ‘why now,’ the opportunity was too great,” Berry said via Pro Football Talk. “It wasn’t like a Plan A going into the offseason. Quite honestly, we would have operated differently if it was. Sometimes things come across your path that you’re not expecting. You can’t be so dogmatic in your strategy and planning that you can’t adjust and be flexible.”

Browns Got a Strong Return

To pull off a trade sending away such a high-profile and consistent player, Berry said that the team wanted both premium draft assets and a young, elite player back in order to meet both their immediate and long-term goals. That’s exactly what the Rams offered Cleveland.

The Rams sent their 2027 first-round pick, 2028 second-round pick, and 2029 third-round pick in addition to Verse, who was selected by the Rams with their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

While the picks are obviously important for Cleveland as they build their future, Berry pointed to the “incredibly important” inclusion of Verse as the thing that really got the ball rolling for the trade.