The Los Angeles Rams may have completed the biggest trade of the NFL offseason, but comments from Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken suggest the groundwork for the deal was laid long before it became official.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Monken admitted he was never guaranteed that superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett would remain with the Browns when he accepted Cleveland’s head coaching job in January.
“No, I wasn’t assured that when I took the job,” Monken said, via Cleveland.com Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot. “I was never assured of anything when I took the job.”
Those remarks now look especially revealing after the Browns agreed to send Garrett to Los Angeles for Pro Bowl edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick.
While Cleveland publicly maintained for months that Garrett wasn’t available, Monken’s comments suggest the possibility of a trade existed behind the scenes long before Monday’s blockbuster.
The opening widened further in March when Garrett and the Browns agreed to a modified contract structure. Cleveland deferred nearly $29 million in bonus payments, a move widely viewed as making a future trade more manageable.
The Rams pounced on that opportunity.
Garrett arrives in Los Angeles after one of the most dominant defensive seasons in NFL history. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year recorded an NFL-record 23 sacks in 2025 while also leading the league with 33 tackles for loss.
Now paired with a Rams defense that already ranked among the NFL’s best pass-rushing units, Garrett gives Los Angeles the elite game-changing defender it has been seeking since Aaron Donald’s retirement and further cements the Rams as legitimate Super Bowl favorites heading into 2026.
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