Bill Barnwell is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. He analyzes football on and off the field like no one else on the planet, writing about in-season X's and O's, offseason transactions and so much more.
He is the host of the Bill Barnwell Show podcast, with episodes released weekly. Barnwell joined ESPN in 2011 as a staff writer at Grantland.
The moment Browns fans have been dreading finally arrived last week. After a disastrous 2024 season, star edge rusher and franchise icon Myles Garrett took to social media to announce he was requesting a trade. The 2017 No. 1 pick has been a cornerstone ever since arriving in Cleveland, racking up 102.5 sacks and 200 knockdowns over eight seasons. He ranks second in both categories since the start of the 2017 season, behind T.J. Watt.
Garrett's statement reflects the reality the Browns are facing after their disastrous decision to trade for Deshaun Watson in 2022, a move that cost them multiple first-round picks and locked them into a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal, $92 million of which remains on the books. The Browns were one of the worst offenses in recent NFL history when Watson was on the field last season, and while they improved after he tore his right Achilles in November, they will feel the impact of the missing draft picks and his massive contract for years to come.
Plenty of players issue trade requests as part of their efforts to land a new contract, and Garrett will certainly feel like it's time for a new deal. There are two years left on his five-year, $125 million extension, which was a market-resetting deal when he signed it in 2020. Since then, five edge rushers have topped that mark, including San Francisco's Nick Bosa, who is making $34 million per season on his new contract. Dallas' Micah Parsons is expected to top that figure when he signs his extension this offseason.
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Garrett is due just over $40 million over the next two years, all of which is non-guaranteed. As he approaches his age-30 season, he understandably wants a raise to the top of the edge-rushing market and a multiyear guarantee. The Browns have him on relatively friendly cap numbers over the next couple of years, but as CBS Sports' Joel Corry wrote about, that contract structure could make him tougher to trade.
While the most likely scenario remains that Garrett signs an extension with the Browns, it would be a surprise if he felt the need to put this much pressure on the team to get a deal done under those circumstances. It's one thing when a player might feel like he's about to be a cut or trade candidate or when his team has been hesitant to sign a new deal, which has led to trade requests in the past. Garrett has already been on a significant deal for several years, and Cleveland shouldn't have many arguments against giving a player with his résumé a new contract. General manager Andrew Berry has said the Browns have no intention of trading Garrett, but what teams say publicly and end up doing in reality are often two different things.
There's enough smoke here to do a deeper dive. If the Browns are really willing to trade Garrett, what would a fair price even look like? And which teams should be interested? Let's try to find comps for a Garrett swap and then go around the league to see which franchises could credibly complete a deal for a player who should be going to Canton one day.
Jump to a section:
What could the Browns get for Garrett
The teams that have no chance to add him
Teams that could be involved -- as a third party
Unlikely but plausible: Teams that have a case
Maybe: The teams that Garrett puts over the top
Yes: The three teams that should do it ASAP
How often do Pro Football Hall of Famers get traded before they turn 30? More often than you might think, but most of those deals aren't great comps for Garrett's situation. Future stars Minkah Fitzpatrick, Brett Favre and Steve Young were traded early in their careers, long before they broke out. Jared Allen, a 2025 class member and 2004 fourth-round pick by the Chiefs, eventually became a four-time first-team All-Pro, but he had only earned that honor once before being traded to the Vikings in 2008.
A more accurate way to frame this could be to look at players who had already established themselves as superstars in their 20s and were then dealt before turning 30. A reasonable proxy for that stardom could be multiple first-team All-Pro appearances, like the four Garrett has through his age-29 season. Since 1980, 38 other players have earned at least four first-team All-Pro appearances in their 20s. Not one of those 38 racked up those four-plus All-Pro nods before being traded, as Garrett is set to do if he's dealt this offseason.
What if the bar is lowered slightly? Looking at the players who were selected as a first-team All-Pro three times before being dealt in their 20s over the past 40 seasons, there are six comps for a Garrett swap. They yielded very different returns. Let's look at them in reverse chronological order:
Hill only gets here on a technicality, as the first of his All-Pro nods came as a special-teamer during his rookie season. With that in mind, he's not too far off from the logic we're considering with Garrett: This is a player who was perennially expected to land as one of the league's best players at a critical, highly valued position. Hill wasn't quite as accomplished as Garrett, but he was also two years younger at the time of his deal to the Dolphins.
Like Garrett, Hill wanted a new contract as part of his trade. And while the Dolphins grossly inflated the back end of the deal, he landed a contract that reset the market at wide receiver alongside Davante Adams. Even with Hill coming off a 1,239-yard season, the Chiefs were only able to land the No. 29 pick as the focal point of their package. The Jets, who were the runner-up in the Hill sweepstakes, were reportedly going to send two picks toward the top of the second round and a 34-pick swap in the third round to acquire him.
This ended up being something close to a success for both teams. Hill pieced together back-to-back 1,700-plus-yard seasons during his first two years in Miami, although his numbers fell off precipitously in Year 3 before he refused to play in the second half of the Dolphins' final game of the season. The Chiefs used the No. 29 pick to trade up for cornerback Trent McDuffie, who has been a critical player since joining their defensive backfield. They have been to the Super Bowl in all three seasons without Hill, winning two titles.
The Hopkins trade wasn't exactly a success for both teams. It was widely panned at the time, as the Texans only landed a second-round selection, which they used on quickly forgotten defensive tackle Ross Blacklock. They inexplicably took on an underwater contract in Johnson, who had averaged 3.6 yards per carry over the prior three seasons and was due about twice what he would have expected to land in free agency. The reaction to the move and an 0-4 start to the following season led to Bill O'Brien being fired as coach and lead football executive in Houston.
Hopkins was entering his age-28 season and coming off a 1,165-yard, seven-touchdown season, making his third consecutive first-team All-Pro appearance in the process. While he wanted a new contract with three years left to go on his existing pact and eventually got some new money from the Cardinals, it was a superstar at a premium position in the prime of his career, which made this a disastrously low return for the Texans. And ironically, this trade helped lead to Watson requesting to leave Houston, which has now led to Garrett wanting to move on from Cleveland.
Revis was arguably the league's best cornerback and about to enter his age-28 season, but there's one major difference between his situation and Garrett's: injury. Revis tore his left ACL two games into the 2012 season, and while it seemed likely he would be able to play a full season in 2013, he was entering the final year of a deal that had a no-franchise tag clause, which meant the Jets could have lost him for nothing in free agency the following season.
Without much leverage, the Jets were only able to land one first-round pick in a trade. The Bucs signed Revis to a six-year, $96 million contract with zero guaranteed money, a contract structure that wasn't seen before it and hasn't been seen since. He lasted only one season in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs cutting their new cornerback to avoid sending a conditional third-rounder to the Jets. He then returned to form with the Patriots in 2014, earning his last first-team All-Pro nod and winning a Super Bowl, before signing one more big-money deal with the Jets.
The first three players on this list were all rumored to be on the trade block. The Seymour trade was much more surprising. Dealt just before the season as he entered the final year of his contract, the 2001 first-round pick was thought to be a cornerstone player for the Patriots, who were getting back Tom Brady after the legendary quarterback missed most of the 2008 season with a torn ACL. The Patriots had moved on from veteran defenders Ty Law and Lawyer Milloy before, but Seymour was still perceived to be in his prime, as he was a month away from turning 30. This was one of the most surprising decisions of the Bill Belichick era.
Most teams trading away veteran standouts want to get draft pick certainty by getting their selections back as quickly as possible. When he made this deal, though, Belichick was making a move we would more typically associate with the modern NBA than an NFL team 15 years ago. By trading for a pick that wouldn't come due for two years, he was hoping that a hapless Raiders team would fall further into the abyss and end up sending the Patriots a top-five pick. In the end, the Raiders went 8-8 in 2010 and sent the Pats the 17th pick in the draft, which New England used on longtime left tackle Nate Solder. The Raiders got two Pro Bowl appearances in four years from Seymour before he retired.
Speaking of the Raiders, this was another in their series of moves to try to add veteran superstars as quick fixes to their roster. Moss was coming off his worst season as a pro, with 767 receiving yards over 13 games in 2004, but he had averaged 1,396 yards and 13 touchdowns over his first six seasons in the league. He was a transcendent wideout and one of the best players in football at any position. Entering his age-28 season, he should have had years of elite play to come.
He did, but it wasn't in Oakland, where Moss racked up 1,558 yards and 11 touchdowns over two seasons, at which point he took a pay cut to join the Patriots in another fateful trade. The Vikings used the No. 7 selection to draft his direct replacement in wideout Troy Williamson, but the South Carolina product never topped 455 receiving yards in a season as a pro.
What the Rams got in return in a three-team trade from the Colts and Bills: Three first-round picks (1988 and 1989), three second-round picks (1988 and 1989), RBs Greg Bell and Owen Gill
Dickerson has come up recently as Saquon Barkley chased his rushing record at the end of the season, but it's worth reiterating how spectacular a player he was when the Rams made this deal. At this point, he had led the league in rushing three times in four years, setting the record in the process. He had already won Offensive Rookie and Player of the Year and finished as the MVP runner-up three times while averaging 112 rushing yards across four playoff games. This was happening in a league and an era in which running backs were focal points of offenses and the most notable players on their respective rosters.
All of that is to say that Browns fans hoping for this sort of haul for Garrett are probably going to be disappointed. Dickerson was in the middle of his age-27 season and had a strong case to be one of the league's three best players when this trade happened. The Rams landed three first-rounders and three second-rounders between the 1988 and 1989 drafts, as well as two players. The picks, unfortunately, didn't yield any game-changing players. Dickerson would make his fourth All-Pro team the year of the trade and a fifth the following season, but he never made it back to that level again.
Treating future first-rounders as picks landing in the middle of each round and not applying any time discount, these Hall of Famers generated an average of 1,597 points of trade value on the Jimmy Johnson chart. I'd argue the Hopkins (509 points) and Dickerson (4,260 points) deals are outliers on either end of the spectrum; removing those reduces the trade value to 1,204 points. That would be equivalent to the 12th pick in a typical draft.
The 31st selection is worth 600 points by the Johnson chart, so the average trade has technically produced two first-rounders, although just barely. I would suggest we can take this more as a general arbiter of where these Hall of Famers are valued when they're traded as opposed to a specific amount of draft capital the Browns should expect or need to receive to justify the deal.
I can see an argument for the Browns wanting more. Garrett plays the second-most important position in the game after quarterback. He has four first-team All-Pro nods, placing him one ahead of these other players who were dealt before 30. He has won Defensive Player of the Year. And while he has been aided by a 17th game, he has racked up 12 sacks in each of the past five seasons. He's the first player in NFL history to produce six 12-plus sack seasons before turning 30.
At the same time, Garrett is going to turn 30 next December, and the league has grown much warier of players as they age out of their prime seasons. Any team trading for him is going to be handing him a contract with significant amounts of guaranteed money into his early 30s. Garrett is unlikely to suddenly turn into a pumpkin just because he hits 30, but he has already played eight years in the league. We've seen players in this age range get traded for much less than their talents would suggest, with Jalen Ramsey in 2023 a recent example.
The Browns shouldn't have much trouble finding teams that are interested in adding Garrett, but general manager Andrew Berry will have to do well to land a deal that makes fans feel like they aren't heartbroken to see their franchise defender leave Cleveland. The best way to get there, unless you run the Dallas Mavericks, is via a bidding war.
It seems like a first-round pick would be the bare minimum for Garrett. Two first-rounders might be a big ask for a player approaching 30, even one as talented as Garrett, but it all depends on who is sending those picks and where they land. If a team's offering a top-10 pick in the 2025 draft, it might not need to offer much else. If it's the Eagles sending the No. 32 pick, there would need to be something more substantial as a second asset going Cleveland's way, especially given that their future picks in 2026 and 2027 are also likely to fall toward the bottom of rounds.
Which teams should or will be involved in those bids? The easiest way to figure out is to eliminate the teams that clearly shouldn't be having discussions about a potential Garrett deal and then work toward the teams that should be more interested. In other words, let's approach this "Guess Who" style, starting with the teams that aren't going to land Garrett for various reasons.
The distaste for teams to make trades in their own division is probably a market inefficiency. The Eagles successfully traded Donovan McNabb within the NFC East in 2010, while the Patriots sent Drew Bledsoe to the Bills in 2002, surely because those rivals made the best available offers. More recently, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made a pair of draft pick trades within the NFC North, and Minnesota was able to come to terms on a deal with the Lions for T.J. Hockenson. If you can convince a team in your own division to pay more than the competition for a player, the deal's probably worth doing, even if it means you have to see that guy twice a year for the foreseeable future.
At the same time, if you thought Browns fans were going to be upset about losing Garrett, imagine if they have to see him line up in Ravens, Bengals or Steelers colors. Trading a future Hall of Famer within the division might be a bridge too far. And frankly, none of these teams is a great fit for Garrett, anyway. The Steelers are going to work on re-signing T.J. Watt; the Bengals have to work on new deals for Trey Hendrickson, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins; and the Ravens are going to be focused on their offensive line and secondary.
While acknowledging that any team could justify adding Garrett and moving players around to do so, these teams don't have an obvious need for an edge rusher unless they move one out as part of a deal. The Texans have invested heavily on the edge with Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. The Broncos have a great young duo in Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper. The Rams have Byron Young and Jared Verse.
Of course, if one of these teams decided it wanted Garrett, it would probably be willing to move on from Bonitto or Young to get a deal done. Stranger things have happened. But given their needs elsewhere on their respective rosters, their cap situations and the talent that they already have on the edge, I wouldn't expect them to make a serious push for Garrett.
If the logic is that Garrett wants to play for a contender and compete for a Super Bowl, moving to one of the league's worst teams wouldn't make sense. These teams are all picking in the top 10 of April's draft, and while the Texans and Commanders have reminded us in recent years that a team can turn things around quickly if it finds the right coach and quarterback, neither of those teams traded significant draft capital for a veteran edge rusher. The Texans traded up for an edge rusher on a rookie deal in Anderson, and they only added Hunter in free agency after their breakout 2023 season.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Minnesota Vikings
New York Giants
New York Jets
None of these teams makes sense as a potential landing spot for Garrett. The Jags, Giants and Jets were all well below .500 this season. And while the Vikings won 14 games, they're deep at edge rusher after signing Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel and trading up for Dallas Turner in the first round of the 2024 draft. It would be a surprise if they sacrificed more draft capital to go after Garrett.
All of these teams, though, have one or more young edge rushers who could interest the Browns as part of a potential Garrett deal involving a third team. The Jags have locked up Josh Hines-Allen, but Travon Walker is still on his rookie deal. The Giants are committed to Brian Burns, but Kayvon Thibodeaux has 21 sacks over his first three years and is still only 24.
The Jets got a breakout season from Will McDonald, but they're about to have a load of players eligible for new extensions, including Jermaine Johnson, who made the Pro Bowl in 2023 before missing most of 2024 with a torn Achilles. And while the Vikings committed serious draft capital to adding Turner through a pair of trades up the board, Turner only made it onto the field for 300 snaps as a rookie, generating three sacks and five knockdowns.
The Browns might prefer to add a young edge rusher to replace Garrett in lieu of pure draft capital as part of a deal. And while all of the players I mentioned are still valuable contributors on rookie deals with plenty of upside, their teams might have reasons to justify adding draft capital and reinvesting it to other, weaker parts of their roster. The guys who drafted Walker and Johnson have been fired. Thibodeaux has been more inconsistent than the Giants would like. There was plenty of talent ahead of Turner on the edge, but the 22-year-old didn't exactly force his way onto the field as a rookie.
The price would vary depending on the player involved in the move, but these teams could all be involved in a deal in which they land some meaningful draft capital, another team grabs Garrett, and the Browns land a young edge rusher and a smaller draft haul. The rarity of three-way trades in the NFL makes that sort of arrangement unlikely, but we don't exactly see future Hall of Famers getting traded every day, either.
Time to get a closer look at potential trade partners. Let's go team-by-team:
Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals have been patient with their rebuild over the past two years. Coach Jonathan Gannon is a fertile defensive mind and has pieced together creative sim pressures to generate a pass rush over that stretch, but he took over a defense that ranked 24th in expected points added (EPA) per play in 2022, saw them fall to dead last in 2023 and got them back to 22nd in 2024. The team's leading pass rusher is converted off-ball linebacker Zaven Collins, who had five sacks.
To move forward and compete for a playoff berth, Arizona needs an edge rushing presence. It will get back BJ Ojulari after the 2023 second-round pick missed the season with a torn ACL and could re-sign free agent Baron Browning after trading for him in midseason, but Garrett would be the sort of big swing the Cardinals might need to propel the defense forward. No, an 8-9 record might not scream championship contender, but it usually isn't hard to convince players to head to Arizona.
Atlanta Falcons: This would be a move a decade in the making, as the Falcons have spent years trying to find an impactful edge rusher. First-round picks Vic Beasley and Takk McKinley and veteran additions Dante Fowler Jr. and Matthew Judon have failed to make the sustained impact they would have hoped. Judon, who had 5.5 sacks after joining Atlanta in a trade last summer, will be a free agent this offseason.
The only issue for the Falcons is cap space. They're $8.6 million over the projected cap line for 2025 and would need to create another hole on their offensive or defensive line to free up room. They will try to trade Kirk Cousins -- Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has both a need for a quarterback and experience coaching Cousins in Minnesota -- but no team is going to want to absorb the $27.5 million base salary guaranteed to him in 2025. Garrett only has a $1.3 million base salary this season, but could the Falcons afford to pay and trade Cousins, acquire Garrett, give him a new extension and stay plausibly cap-compliant?
Dallas Cowboys. Well, this doesn't make any sense. The Cowboys are already spreading too much of their salary cap to too small of a group of people. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb combine to make $94 million per season. With Micah Parsons now entering the final year of his rookie deal and expecting a record-setting contract for an edge rusher, that figure should rise to $130 million for three players. It's difficult to see that math work for Dallas, and adding a new deal for Garrett to the mix would only increase the complications.
Of course, the Cowboys could choose to get Parsons involved. The Browns don't want to deal Garrett, but if the Cowboys offered to trade them another perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate as part of a deal, they would have to reconsider their stance. I'm not sure there's a lot of logic in trading the 25-year-old Parsons for a 29-year-old Garrett, but Dallas sports fans are sadly all too aware that 25-year-old franchise players can unexpectedly be traded for older veterans these days.
Realistically, I don't see the Cowboys in the mix. But when there's a Hall of Fame-caliber player available and Jerry Jones is involved, anything's possible.
Green Bay Packers. It would be out of character for general manager Brian Gutekunst to go after any sort of veteran player at this point of their careers. Over the past few seasons, he has rebuilt the Packers into the league's youngest team while focusing heavily on the draft. When the Packers did make a splash in free agency last year, they went for a pair of players who were about to enter their age-26 seasons in Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney. I don't see them abandoning that philosophy right now.
And yet, if anybody should know about the benefits of adding a Hall of Fame-caliber player in the prime of their careers, wouldn't it be the Packers? This is the same organization that signed Reggie White as a 31-year-old and saw the Hall of Fame edge rusher rack up 68.5 sacks over six seasons. Green Bay signed Charles Woodson as a 29-year-old and got four Pro Bowl appearances and two first-team All-Pro nods out of the defensive back. Both those players were free agents as opposed to trade additions, which makes this deal less likely, but Garrett might be the sort of player who would cause Gutekunst to break his rules.
Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs probably don't have the financial flexibility to make this work after signing Chris Jones to a massive contract last offseason. Over the past few years, they've seemingly tried to surround Jones with cheaper options on the edge, using first-round picks on George Karlaftis and Felix Anudike-Uzomah and signing lower-cost veterans such as Charles Omenihu.
Those moves have led to two Super Bowls, but the Chiefs are coming off a brutal loss to the Eagles, one in which they only managed to pressure Jalen Hurts 24% of the time. Karlaftis is now eligible for an extension, which could make him a potential trade candidate. Kansas City had an expensive edge rusher alongside Jones in the past when it traded for and extended Frank Clark, but that was back when Patrick Mahomes was on a rookie deal.
It's difficult for the Chiefs to interest teams in future picks given their sustained success with Mahomes. With other teams, there's always a chance they'll disappoint because of injuries or overconfidence and unexpectedly end up sending a top-10 pick as part of a deal. (The Browns have been on both sides of this with the Texans from their various Watson deals.) The Chiefs, on the other hand, feel like they're as likely to draft in the 29-to-32 range on an annual basis. They might have to pay slightly more in picks to get a deal done, which could then lead them to justify trying to send Karlaftis as part of a package. But again, it's tough to see the financial calculus working to get Garrett here.
Miami Dolphins. By virtue of being in Miami and having aggressive ownership, the Dolphins are in on every star player who comes available via trade. It was easier to make those moves when Tua Tagovailoa was on a rookie deal and the Dolphins were awash with draft capital from the Trey Lance and Laremy Tunsil trades, but there's a reason this team has dealt for Bradley Chubb, Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey over the past few seasons.
Edge is a difficult spot to handicap for Miami. First-round pick Chop Robinson looked like a star over the second half of last season. The team drafted Robinson because of the uncertainty surrounding their veterans in Chubb and Jaelan Phillips, both of whom were coming off season-ending injuries. Chubb ended up sitting out the season, while Phillips returned earlier than expected, only to suffer a torn ACL.
Chubb is on a long-term deal, but Phillips is entering his fifth-year option and Robinson is in Year 2 of his rookie pact. The Dolphins could theoretically move Robinson as the primary portion of a Garrett package and create an opening, but there are just too many holes elsewhere on their roster to think that's a likely swap.
San Francisco 49ers. Could the 49ers have done this while Brock Purdy was on a rookie deal? Yes. We've seen them get aggressive in trading for potential Hall of Fame talent, making deals for Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams. They already had a massive investment at one edge rusher spot in Nick Bosa, but general manager John Lynch has spent heavily in free agency recently to add Javon Hargrave, Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos, who combine to make $40 million per year. In a universe where Garrett comes available earlier, the 49ers could have theoretically spent less at defensive tackle and shelled out future picks to add Garrett to what was already a championship-caliber core.
Purdy is about to get a massive raise, though, and that limits a lot of San Francisco's flexibility. The 49ers are already about to cut Hargrave and will either cut or trade Deebo Samuel. They might not be able to bring back free agents Charvarius Ward and Dre Greenlaw. And with all of the money they've invested in Bosa, it's tough to see them committing even more to a second edge rusher. Still, they have also shown that if they truly believe they can add a transcendent player, they'll do whatever they can to make it work.
Seattle Seahawks. With three straight winning seasons and zero playoff victories after trading away Russell Wilson, the Seahawks might believe they need to take a bigger swing at a key position. They're $11 million over the projected cap, but they can free up approximately $32 million by releasing veterans Tyler Lockett and Uchenna Nwosu, neither of whom are expected to return in 2025 on their current deals.
Moving on from Nwosu, who has been limited to 12 games over the past two seasons because of injuries, would also open up a spot in the edge rush rotation. Seattle got solid work out of Boye Mafe and Derick Hall in 2024, but Mafe is entering the final year of his rookie deal and could be a part of a potential Garrett trade. As was the case for the 49ers, we've also seen general manager John Schneider make aggressive moves for veterans on the trade market, including deals for Percy Harvin, Jimmy Graham and Jamal Adams. Those moves delivered mixed results, but none of those guys had Garrett's résumé, either.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs have several members of their edge rusher rotation hitting free agency, but their two young starters are back -- Calijah Kancey and Yaya Diaby. Kancey had more sacks than his teammate, but Diaby racked up 26 quick quarterback pressures in 2024, per NFL Next Gen Stats, which was tied for the eighth-most of any player. One of those defenders would make sense for the Browns in a potential Garrett deal.
Would it make sense for the Buccaneers? They have to work on re-signing veterans Lavonte David, Chris Godwin and Ben Bredeson, and edge rusher isn't a real point of weakness. Todd Bowles' defense also generates so much of its pressure with blitzes, so Garrett might mean more for a team that rushes four and relies on the defensive line to get home. The Bucs are a competitive team that could justify seeing Garrett as the guy who can take them to the next level, however, and playing in an income tax-free state could make Garrett millions of dollars over this next contract.
There are a handful of teams with championship aspirations after this season that could make a serious push for Garrett. These four would have to stretch financially and see Garrett as the final piece of the puzzle to make the deal work, but it wouldn't be hard to convince themselves of the fit.
Buffalo Bills. The Bills have been here before. In 2022, after they blew a lead with 13 seconds left in the fourth quarter against the Chiefs in the playoffs, despite their offense scoring 36 points, general manager Brandon Beane pushed all-in. He signed Von Miller in free agency, handing the edge rusher a six-year, $120 million deal with $45 million guaranteed at signing. Between a torn ACL and a suspension for off-field conduct, that deal turned out to be a disaster for Buffalo.
The move was out of character for Beane and the Bills, but the logic made sense. They believed they needed an unblockable player to take down Patrick Mahomes. Three seasons later, the Bills still need that defender, and after the Super Bowl, they have even more evidence of how a great pass rush can be the great equalizer against Mahomes. With Miller likely to be released soon, they will have added cap room and space in their pass rush rotation. Greg Rousseau is entering the fifth-year option of his rookie deal, but is he enough to slow down Mahomes?
Detroit Lions. The Lions fell apart in the postseason when most of their defense went down injured, but they were looking for a second pass rusher to play alongside Aidan Hutchinson even before their injuries. They signed former Saints edge rusher Marcus Davenport to a one-year deal in free agency last year, but he played just two games before suffering a torn triceps. A few weeks later, Hutchinson fractured his left leg.
Davenport is a free agent, and while Hutchinson still has one year left on his rookie deal before a potential fifth-year option, the Lions might be a little worried he won't immediately return to his prior level of play, which had him as a strong candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. They don't have a quarterback on a rookie deal, but as one of the league's youngest teams, they have key contributors on both sides of the ball on team-friendly contracts. With $56.7 million in projected cap space, there's enough space over the next couple of years to trade for Garrett and sign him to a new deal. It would be a huge bet, but if Detroit thinks it's one player away, is there a better alternative than Garrett?
Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers turned over their receiving corps a year ago by releasing Mike Williams and trading Keenan Allen. They might have made moves with their edge rushers, too, but Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack took pay cuts to stay. Unfortunately, they combined for 11 sacks, with Bosa inactive or limited to a part-time role for half of the season by injuries.
Mack is an unrestricted free agent, and with Bosa due more than $25 million in unguaranteed money for the final year of his deal next season, the Chargers could move on from him. Tuli Tuipulotu will start on one side of the line, and Bud Dupree was solid in a rotational role in 2024, but Garrett would be a building block for coordinator Jesse Minter. The Chargers likely will build through the draft as they continue to evolve their roster in the Jim Harbaugh era, but they might also see their pass rush as the only way to topple Mahomes in the AFC West.
Could the Chargers get some of their young players involved? The Browns have a major need at offensive tackle with Jedrick Wills Jr. benched and hitting free agency and Jack Conklin a likely cap casualty. Dawand Jones will probably get first crack at the right tackle job, but would they ask the Chargers about Rashawn Slater? It's tough to see Harbaugh breaking up his tackle duo, but Joe Alt could move to the left side, and Garrett is the sort of generational pass-rusher every team covets.
Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles don't need anything to get over the top. After blowing out the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, they are atop the football universe. They're the ultimate proof of concept for any team trying to stop Mahomes. While a great defensive line isn't a guarantee a team will beat the Chiefs -- as the Eagles and 49ers showed in recent Super Bowl losses -- it might be a prerequisite for beating them.
Some of that defensive line might not be coming back to Philly in 2025. Josh Sweat, who would have been my pick as the MVP of this Super Bowl, is a free agent. So is Milton Williams, who has improved from being a situational defensive tackle to a guy capable of playing and dominating on all downs. Brandon Graham is expected to retire, and Bryce Huff was one of the few additions last offseason from general manager Howie Roseman that didn't pay off in spades. Huff has $16.75 million in guaranteed money due next season, which would seem to suggest Philadelphia will give him a second chance to make an impact, but Roseman could get creative this offseason to try to get Huff off the books.
If he can, and if the Eagles don't bring back Sweat, would it really be that wild to imagine the Eagles trading for Garrett? They're spending a ton of money on offense, but this is one of the youngest defenses in the league, and they've got basically all of their defensive line and the guys who will be their top two cornerbacks on rookie deals for the next couple of seasons. Taking a big swing on Garrett as opposed to bringing back Sweat and Zack Baun would be risky, but Roseman is empowered to take those sorts of shots, and players such as Garrett simply don't come available often. And from Garrett's perspective, what better team to join if he wants to play in a Super Bowl than the team that just won one?
These are other teams that should be interested in a Garrett deal and have one key advantage over the organizations I mentioned above: a cheap quarterback. It's easier for teams with quarterbacks on rookie deals that are hoping to compete to go after him, given that they're paying their starting signal-callers about $40 million to $50 million less than the going rate for veteran passers. That's a lot of salary to spread elsewhere around the roster.
It's possible to make a trade for a potential defensive star with an expensive quarterback, as we saw in the deals for Jalen Ramsey and Jamal Adams, but those players were also on rookie deals when their trade occurred. It's tougher to combine an expensive quarterback with a top-of-the-market superstar defender, especially if a team is spending to add significant players around that quarterback at receiver and along the offensive line.
These teams might not be as close to winning a title as others we've already hit, but they can more easily absorb a Garrett deal while propelling themselves a tier or two forward in terms of championship potential in the process. They should be having serious conversations about a potential Garrett trade.
Chicago Bears. The Bears don't feel like championship contenders after a 5-12 season, but there are reasons to think they're closer to being competitive than you might think. They were excellent on defense in the second half of 2023 and early on in 2024 before falling apart after the loss to the Commanders and the firing of Matt Eberflus. Their offense (famous last words) should take a major step forward after the hiring of Ben Johnson, who will be working with Caleb Williams on a rookie contract for three more seasons.
General manager Ryan Poles already made a move to upgrade his pass rush at the 2023 trade deadline by sending a second-round pick to the Commanders for Montez Sweat, who then signed a four-year, $98 million deal. The logic underpinning that deal hasn't held up. Sweat is a good player, but his 12.5-sack season in 2023 is an outlier. He had 5.5 sacks as Chicago's lead rusher in 2024. That's not the sort of production that is acceptable from a player making nearly $25 million per season, which is elite edge rusher money. The pick the Bears sent to the Commanders was eventually sent to the Eagles, who found a useful player they'll have at a bargain rate for four years: Cooper DeJean, last seen taking a Mahomes pick-six to the house in the Super Bowl.
The Sweat deal is what it is, but the Bears should be done adding defenders. With $65 million in cap space, they could afford to add Garrett and still have the ability to address their offensive line in free agency. With an extra second-round pick still coming from the 2023 trade with the Panthers, they have extra capital if they did decide to make an offer for Garrett. If they believe Johnson can help bring along cost-controlled talent on offense, focusing their spending on the defense would make sense.
Indianapolis Colts. Yes, the Colts, who perennially seem to be at or around .500, even as they cycle through quarterbacks. General manager Chris Ballard generally has been patient with holding onto picks and drafting and developing talent, but he has made an exception for pass-rushing talent. Indy sent a first-round pick to the 49ers for DeForest Buckner, who has been a stalwart for the Colts since 2020.
In his postseason news conference, Ballard acknowledged the Colts need to be more aggressive in free agency to add talent. Garrett won't be a free agent, but he would be a much more compelling addition than just about anybody who will be on the market. Ballard has invested first-round picks on the edge in Kwity Paye and Laiatu Latu, but Paye could be a meaningful part of the return that goes back to the Browns in a Garrett deal.
If the Colts are going to make a big swing, it might make sense to go for an offensive player to help Anthony Richardson. Garrett is a better player than anyone they'll be in position to add on the offensive side of the ball, though, and they are mostly locked in on the offensive line and have investments at running back and wide receiver in Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr. I'd like to see Ballard add an impact receiver at tight end this offseason, but if they could get there in the draft, adding a superstar edge rusher could take some of the pressure off Richardson and the offense.
Washington Commanders. I've saved the best candidate for last. The Commanders are the most obvious and consequential landing spot for Garrett. They have the championship potential, the financial flexibility, and the clear and obvious need for pass-rushing help.
All of this starts with Jayden Daniels. The rookie sensation is still on a bargain deal for three more years before the Commanders would even to have consider a fifth-year option. They will likely give Daniels a new deal in 2027 if he continues on this path, but that would still give them a huge runway where his cash and cap hit are team-friendly figures. They have $80 million in cap space in 2025, so while they'll look to add help at receiver and potentially on the left side of the offensive line, general manager Adam Peters & Co. will have plenty of resources to devote to the defense.
Dan Quinn was able to coax better-than-expected play out of his defense in his first season as Commanders coach, but some of those moves were short-term additions. Dante Fowler Jr., who led the team in sacks with 10.5, was on a one-year deal for $3.3 million. The 30-year-old hasn't made that sort of impact regularly during his career, and it would be risky to project him to be that sort of player well into his 30s. Dorance Armstrong, who also followed Quinn to Washington, is more of a rotational player than a lead pass rusher. The Commanders probably feel good about the middle of their line with Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and promising 2024 second-rounder Jer'Zhan Newton, but they're going to be in the market for edge-rushing help this offseason.
Garrett would be the transformative player Quinn's defenses have usually needed to thrive. When Quinn has built top-10 defenses, they've required superstars to make things work, such as Bobby Wagner, Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman in Seattle and Micah Parsons in Dallas. Garrett would give Quinn a chess piece who makes everybody else on the defense a little scarier, which could be hugely valuable for a team that's going to need to draft a lot of defensive help over the next few years.
The Commanders have the No. 29 pick in April's draft, and that would likely be in play as part of a Garrett deal. Would they be willing to throw Allen into the mix? The 30-year-old defensive tackle is in the final year of his deal, and Newton seems ready to move into a starting role next to Payne. The Browns have Dalvin Tomlinson on the interior, but Allen would give them a second impact tackle and soften the blow of losing Garrett. Washington could also get a third team involved as a potential landing spot for Allen. Either way, if the Browns are actually willing to deal Garrett, the Commanders should be the first team they call.