Flash Gets His Wish: Myles Garrett Traded to Rams After Year of Patience

Sometimes the best things come to those who wait—even when the wait feels impossible.

Myles Garrett finally got what he asked for a year ago. The Cleveland Browns’franchise cornerstone is headed to the Los Angeles Rams in a blockbuster trade that sends Jared Verse and several draft picks back to Ohio. It’s a seismic shift for one of the league’s most dominant defensive forces, and the timing tells an interesting story about patience, leverage, and what it takes to actually get out when you want out.

Here’s the backdrop: Last offseason, Garrett made noise requesting a trade out of Cleveland. But instead of letting him walk, the Browns convinced him to stay with a four-year, $160 million extension—$123.5 million guaranteed. It was a calculated gamble on their part: keep your generational talent happy enough to sign, and maybe he’ll change his mind about leaving. For one year, the math seemed to work. Garrett stayed. He put up 23 sacks in 2025 and won Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second time in his career. He even became a part-owner of the Cavaliers, deepening his Cleveland roots.

But wanting out apparently doesn’t just disappear when you sign a long-term deal. Sometimes it just simmers. And when you’re one of the five best defensive ends in football, the market will move mountains to get you. The Rams clearly decided that adding Garrett—five first-team All-Pro selections and seven Pro Bowl nods deep into his résumé—was worth the price. For Garrett, it’s a path toward his real goal: winning a Super Bowl, something that eluded him in Cleveland despite his individual excellence.

There’s a lighter angle here too: his girlfriend, Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim, no longer has to endure Cleveland winters. Then there’s Jared Verse, the 2024 first-round pick who won Defensive Rookie of the Year and made two Pro Bowls already—an Ohio native heading back home, which carries its own symmetry.

What this really signals is that even the biggest contracts and the most convincing“trust us, stay”pitches can’t always keep a star in place if he’s determined to go. Garrett waited it out, played at an elite level, and eventually got his wish. For the Browns, it’s a reminder that sometimes the best way to keep a generational talent is to actually give him the path to leave when he asks.