The Los Angeles Rams made a stunning trade with the Cleveland Browns for Myles Garret at the start of the new league year, and as shocking as the news was (is?), the teams had been working on this deal for multiple weeks.
Peter Shrager broke down details of the trade on the Pat McAfee Show when he explained the Rams and Browns had been in talks for weeks, with Verse being the player that Cleveland wanted in return, plus picks. Out of respect for Verse, the Rams didn’t want any information getting
out until a deal was done, and until they had the chance to break the news to the young pass rusher themselves.
Schrager also says that the Rams knew when they selected Ty Simpson that they weren’t done making moves for 2026, so it’s possible this wasn’t the only move that the Rams were considering, but it’s the move they were able to pull off.
Said Schrager:
“They weren’t gonna do this trade on June 1st…until they told Jared Verse thew news…talks have been going for weeks and I would almost say the selection of Ty Simpson…there was another deal that was going to be made by the Rams…this was in the works and I think both parties are very happy with the trade.”
Credit the Rams and Browns for keeping this trade under wraps. There were rumors and speculation that this deal could happen, but it was not nearly as telegraphed as the recent A.J. Brown to New England Patriots trade, which had been forecasted for months.
Credit Verse who has been so impactful in first two years in the NFL that the Browns were seriously willing to consider the trading of Garrett to L.A. once he was made available. The Rams didn’t want to have to send Verse off, but the Browns were not going to make the deal otherwise.
“That’s the hard part about this, you give up a star player like Jared Verse whose beloved there with the Rams, but both sides had been talking and I can say it’s been weeks…and Verse was dropped in there at a certain point where the Browns couldn’t turn around and just say ‘no’ to this.“
It took weeks, but the deal did get done, and just like that, Myles Garret is a member of the Los Angeles Rams while Jared Verse is a member of the Cleveland Browns. Weeks of planning and the deal is done. Now both teams have months of planning to onboard their new stars, and get them ready for gameday.
