Why Cleveland Should Trade Myles Garrett

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer made the case on-air that the Cleveland Browns should actively explore trading Myles Garrett, and the argument came down to a timeline mismatch between the franchise's future and Garrett's prime.

Breer opened by tempering the alarm around Garrett skipping the voluntary portion of the offseason program. The first two weeks are lifting and meetings. Quarterback absence matters more because it affects the ten other guys in the huddle. Garrett marches to his own drum, and missing early voluntary work alone isn't the tell everyone's treating it as. If he's still out in June for mandatory minicamp, that's a different conversation.

But the bonus restructuring caught attention for a reason. Andrew Berry at the owners meetings dismissed it as routine, and the NFL's new rule allowing up to five first-round picks in a single trade has people connecting dots. Breer acknowledged two pushpins on the wall without playing Charlie Day with red string, but he argued the Browns don't need to shop Garrett. If teams are interested, the phone will ring, and there's no reason not to answer.

The real case for trading Garrett is structural. The Browns' likely path to a franchise quarterback runs through the 2027 draft. Last year, Cleveland traded back from the Travis Hunter pick, an acknowledgment that the core around Wyatt Teller, Joel Bitonio, and Nick Chubb had aged out. The 2025 class turned into a strong group, Mason Graham, defensive rookie of the year Carson Schwesinger, Harold Fannin, Quinshon Judkins, Dillon Sampson. Two first-round picks followed. The build is now pointing at a 2027 quarterback surrounded by three draft classes of young talent.

The math gets uncomfortable for Garrett. If the quarterback lands in 2027, the team peaks in 2028. At that point, Garrett turns 33 during the season. Do you want Garrett chasing a ring at the end of his career, possibly diminished, or do you want three first-round picks right now to supercharge the rebuild?

Breer raised the Will Anderson comparison. If Anderson becomes the first 50-million-a-year non-quarterback, Garrett is going to want his contract rewritten anyway, and that's only fair. Garrett is a Hall of Fame player. The question isn't whether he's still great, it's whether the team's timeline matches his.

The cleanest line landed at the end. Name another non-quarterback where you can ask for three first-round picks and nobody laughs at you. There isn't one. At 30, with his production, Myles Garrett is the rarest trade asset in the league. Cleveland has every reason to at least listen.