| June 1 sees two big trades involving first round picks – one expected and one not. The expected – the Eagles send WR A.J. BROWN to New England for a 2028 first round draft pick and a 5th next year. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: The Eagles have been expected to trade A.J. Brown to the Patriots for some time and they officially pulled the trigger on the move on Monday afternoon. The Eagles announced that they have agreed to send Brown to New England in exchange for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round selection. Brown will need to pass a physical in order for the deal to be finalized. Cap implications for trading Brown became less onerous at 4 p.m. ET on June 1 and the Eagles’ announcement came minutes after that moment passed. The Patriots will now inherit the final four years of Brown’s contract while the Eagles will split their remaining $43.8 million cap hit over the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The Eagles added veteran receivers Hollywood Brown and Dontayvion Wicks before drafting Makai Lemon in the first round of April’s draft. They’ll join DeVonta Smith as Jalen Hurts’s top targets for the coming season. Brown will now be Drake Maye’s No. 1 receiver in New England and he will be reunited with his former head coach with the Titans Mike Vrabel for a push at a Super Bowl ring to go with the one he earned in Philadelphia. The unexpected – but not entirely surprising – is the Rams acquiring EDGE MYLES GARRETT, the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, from Cleveland for EDGE JARED VERSE and a Lawrence Welk – a one (2027), a two (2028) and a three (2029). Adam Schefer, Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of ESPN.com: The Cleveland Browns traded two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams for two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Jared Verse and multiple draft picks, the teams announced Monday. The Browns received a first-round draft pick in 2027, a second-round pick in 2028 and a third-rounder in 2029 in what is one of the biggest trades in NFL history involving a defensive player. Garrett, in a social media post, thanked the Browns and their fans, saying the city of Cleveland shaped him and “made me tougher,” adding the “best days of this franchise are ahead.” “Loving you is easy, leaving you is the hard part,” he wrote. The shocking trade is completely on brand for the Rams, who made a similarly seismic move in the 2021 offseason when they acquired quarterback Matthew Stafford in the season in which the Super Bowl was being played in Los Angeles before going on to win it. With Super Bowl LXI set to be played at SoFi Stadium this February, the Rams again are going all-in and living by their mantra, “F— them picks,” while trying to repeat history. The Rams’ interest in Garrett was sparked shortly after the Browns modified the contract of the seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end in March, pushing back the options bonuses from the 15th day of the league year in March to seven days before the start of the regular season, making it easier to trade him. The Browns were adamant that they had no interest in trading Garrett, and even told that to the Rams, according to sources. But the Rams refused to give up what one source called their “persistent pursuit” of Garrett. Los Angeles, according to sources, continued calling and calling — the only team that tried to pry loose a player the Browns once deemed untouchable. Talks heated up in earnest shortly after this year’s NFL draft. The Rams initially offered a package of picks in return for Garrett, but Cleveland held firm to its public stance of not dealing its defensive standout, according to sources. The Browns told the Rams that no deal would get done without including the 25-year-old Verse, the Rams’ 2024 first-round pick who has had 12 sacks and 22 tackles for loss the past two seasons. Bill Barnwell with a long, long breakdown of the trade: Why the Rams did itI don’t believe that a month of criticism over the Simpson pick really mattered all that much to Snead and the Rams’ front office, but it was fair to wonder whether the team was being as aggressive as its situation seemed to dictate. Stafford, coming off his first MVP campaign, is 38 years old. Coach Sean McVay has flirted with the idea of retiring and joining the media in years past, most notably after a disappointing 2022 season. McVay chose to return, and though the 5-12 season was a colossal disappointment, it turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise for the Rams. Los Angeles cleared out a difficult cap situation and drafted well over the ensuing next few seasons, with opportunities opening up for young players. As they were set to enter the 2026 offseason, the Rams were fortunate to have star talent on rookie deals on both sides of the ball, with Puka Nacua on offense and an entire defensive line — Verse, Byron Young, Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske — on the other. That window gave the Rams a chance to spend. A year ago, they signed Davante Adams in free agency. This offseason, they traded one of their first-round picks to the Chiefs for Trent McDuffie and signed the top cornerback to a four-year, $124 million extension. They also signed fellow corner Jaylen Watson to join his former Kansas City teammate in L.A. The Rams were 25th in projected cash spending in 2026 before the Garrett trade after ranking 32nd in 2023 and 31st in both 2024 and 2025. If there was ever a time to put Stan Kroenke’s financial pedal to the medal, it was now, before all of those young players sign extensions and Stafford joins old friend Clayton Kershaw in retirement. And yes, there were understandable criticisms after the Rams used their remaining first-round pick to add a quarterback who doesn’t project to be on the field to help the organization in 2026. But if the Rams were really going to be all-in to win a title in 2026, it always made sense as the big splash move to target a veteran in the prime of his career who was more likely to make an immediate impact than a rookie. Last week on “NFL Live,” I speculated that Snead might use his 2027 first-round pick to add that veteran at the trade deadline, having dealt two picks for Von Miller in 2021 while attempting to make massive moves for Christian McCaffrey and Brian Burns in years past. Instead, Snead dealt that first-rounder on the first day of June. Of course, Snead’s attitude toward picks (that are likely to fall at the bottom of Round 1) is essentially a meme at this point. And with Simpson in the fold, Los Angeles’ biggest long-term concern — their quarterback of the future behind Stafford — is already resolved. The Rams are stacked at the most important and expensive positions. If the Rams were going to add any one player to their roster in the hopes of winning a championship in 2026, Garrett might have been the pick. It’s fair to wonder whether he might have been the best player in football in 2025, even if he didn’t generate serious MVP consideration by virtue of playing on the Browns. But he was comfortably the most productive defensive player in the game. In addition to setting the single-season sack record, Garrett produced 33 tackles for loss, the second-highest total in modern league history behind J.J. Watt’s 39 in 2012. He was one of the league’s best finishers, turning just under 30% of his pressures into sacks. NFL Next Gen Stats says Garrett had eight unblocked sacks in 2025, but that is a data glitch — Garrett was simply so explosive that the blockers who were trying to get in his way weren’t close enough for the system to register them as relevant. And he did all of this while being chipped or double-teamed on more than 40% of his snaps as an edge rusher, the highest rate in the league for any defender with 200 or more snaps. Over the past three years, Garrett leads the NFL in sack rate (3.7%) and is second in quick pressure rate (9.0%) behind Micah Parsons, again, all while being chipped or double-teamed more often than any other edge rusher. He’s about to get a massive talent upgrade of teammates in Los Angeles, and given what the gravity of Garrett did for players like Alex Wright, Maliek Collins and Isaiah McGuire a year ago, the other standouts up front for the Rams are all in position to have career seasons. On top of all that, Garrett is an impactful run defender, which will allow the Rams to play with light boxes and lean even more into their dime packages, which they ran at the highest rate in the NFL last season. Though losing Verse obviously hurts, Garrett simply projects to be an upgrade on any edge defender if we’re focusing on projected performance in a vacuum in 2026. In fact, I think there’s a reasonable argument to be made that Garrett is the best player to be traded in the modern NFL during the prime of his career. At 30, he is coming off two Defensive Player of the Year awards over the past three seasons. He’s a five-time first-team All-Pro, having picked up all of those honors over the past six seasons. And Garrett has done that while toiling with a Browns team that has won one playoff game over that six-year span. He has probably already done enough to earn a spot in the Hall of Fame before taking a snap in a Rams uniform. Who else might come close? Legendary quarterbacks such as Brett Favre, John Elway and Steve Young were traded at the beginning of their careers, before they emerged as stars. Parsons is a spectacular player, but he’s not as accomplished as Garrett. Champ Bailey hadn’t made a first-team All-Pro appearance before he was dealt to the Broncos. Tony Gonzalez was traded to the Falcons in his mid-30s. And Marshall Faulk’s run of dominant seasons came only after joining the Rams. The most competitive candidates might be Randy Moss and Eric Dickerson, the latter of whom had won two Offensive Player of the Year awards across his first four seasons before being dealt to the Colts in 1987. Dickerson was younger and played what was viewed to be a premium position at the time. Other superstars, like Reggie White, left their teams in free agency for greener pastures. But if Garrett isn’t the best player to be dealt at what might be considered his peak over the past half-century of NFL history, I’m not sure he’s far off from the top. Are the Rams the best team in football after this trade? Well, I would have argued that they were the best team in football before the Garrett trade. They were neck-and-neck with the Seahawks in full-season DVOA for 2025, with both teams well ahead of the rest of the pack. ESPN’s Football Power Index had the Rams as the best team at the end of the regular season, with the Seahawks just behind. Though the Seahawks beat the Rams to win the rubber match between the two in the postseason, the gap between the teams was razor-thin. Both should be excellent again in 2026, but the Seahawks lost offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and three valuable defensive contributors in Boye Mafe, Coby Bryant and Riq Woolen. They’ve made no major additions to their roster this offseason. The most notable Rams departure was Cobie Durant, and though I believe the now-Cowboys cornerback is an underrated player, Snead ably replaced him by trading for McDuffie and signing Watson. On top of all that, the Rams just added the reigning top defensive player in football. Though there are quibbles we can raise about the roster, I don’t know how anyone can comfortably say that a team is clearly better than the Rams. Every roster is susceptible to injuries or bad luck, but all things being equal, the Rams look like the best team in football on paper heading into 2026. The Rams also aren’t on the hook for an exorbitant deal given Garrett’s impact. The structure of Garrett’s contract makes it likely that the Rams will pay their new star edge rusher through 2028, although we’ve seen them pull the rip cord earlier than expected in the past to move on from the likes of Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks. If the Rams don’t address Garrett’s contract, which still has five years, they’ll pay the future Hall of Famer $98 million over the next three seasons, or $32.7 million per year. Parsons, who was traded just before the start of the 2025 season, will make $119.8 million over that same span. With that being said, this is obviously the sort of move that only becomes a success if the Rams win a Super Bowl and Garrett plays a key role. You can decide what sort of discount you might want to put on picks in 2029, but if we treat the three selections the Rams are sending to the Browns as the 28th pick in 2027, the 52nd pick in 2028 and the 80th pick in 2029, the Rams are paying an additional $21.4 million in lost surplus value each year by making this move. Just as Parsons becomes a $50 million-plus per year player by virtue of factoring in the value of the picks the Packers traded to acquire him, the Rams are really paying Garrett something more like $54 million per season as part of this deal. That’s without including Verse, who was still a year away from being eligible for an extension and could be playing for a fraction of his real value over the next two years. And though I loved (and still love) the Parsons move for the Packers, there are real repercussions. The defense wasn’t able to hold up after Parsons tore his ACL late in the season. And the Packers were forced to cut back on their spending this offseason and lost several starters without being able to seek out significant external replacements. Garrett is in a different situation. The Packers were acquiring Parsons hoping to land a player who could dominate over the next decade. If the Rams get three elite seasons out of Garrett and win a Super Bowl, they’ll be thrilled. There’s real, legitimate risk to this trade for the Rams, but this is the right sort of risk for them to embrace. Why the Browns did itYou saw what the short-term future looked like for the Browns last season. Garrett had one of the greatest campaigns we’ve seen by a defensive player in recent NFL history. He elevated the players around him, helping rookie linebacker Carson Schwesinger win Defensive Rookie of the Year. The Browns were a legitimately very good defense after adjusting for pace and context, ranking eighth in full-season DVOA and sixth in points allowed per drive. With all due respect to the likes of Denzel Ward, that success on the field was driven by the presence of No. 95. And even with that defense, the Browns were still light years from contention. Facing the league’s 12th-easiest schedule, Cleveland went 5-12. Berry had an excellent draft in 2025, but the Browns don’t have much else on the roster in terms of homegrown support. There are a total of three starters remaining in the building from a five-draft span between 2018 and 2022: Ward, Alex Wright and safety Grant Delpit. The Browns didn’t have first-round picks in 2023 or 2024 as a result of the Deshaun Watson trade, and though they landed a few rotational players in 2023, the 2024 draft looks like a disaster apart from seventh-round pick Myles Harden. Injuries to potential young cornerstones such as Jedrick Wills Jr., Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Martin Emerson Jr. helped derail Berry’s plans, but Wills and Emerson are out of the organization, and Owusu-Koramoah will sit out his second consecutive season after sustaining a serious neck injury in 2024, raising questions about whether he’ll ever suit up for another NFL game. And of course, the Watson trade obviously turned out to be a colossal, franchise-altering disaster. At this point, those decisions are sunk costs. The Browns had to face the future with the roster they have, not the one they were hoping to have. And that roster simply wasn’t close to competing for a title, even with Garrett on the field. The Browns were another great draft away from being another great draft away. Berry had five top-90 picks in 2026 and added four offensive players, including receivers KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston and left tackle Spencer Fano, but the Browns still don’t have any quarterback of note. Watson is a free agent after the season and coming off a season lost to an Achilles injury, and Shedeur Sanders’ 18.9 Total QBR was the second-worst mark of any signal-caller in the NFL who threw at least 100 passes last season. The Browns repeatedly restructured Watson’s contract to create cap space, which will come to roost after the season. Berry will need to account for $86.2 million in dead cap for Watson, and the only way he’ll be able to spread that over two seasons would be through negotiating some sort of short-term deal with Watson to keep him on the roster for a brief period after 2026. It’s unclear whether ownership or Watson’s representation would be amenable to that idea. There’s a decent chance that the Browns simply eat the largest single-season dead cap number in NFL history for Watson next year. From that perspective, the Browns weren’t going to be able to field a competitive team until 2028, at which point Garrett would be turning 33 and looking toward what probably would be his last big contract as a pro. I wouldn’t have faulted the Browns for holding onto Garrett for that span and treating him as an unmovable franchise player, the way they did with legendary left tackle Joe Thomas — but trading Garrett was the logical thing to do. The Browns flirted with that idea last offseason, when Garrett requested a trade, before signing the star defender to a massive extension. The presence of a no-trade clause made it seem as if Garrett wasn’t going anywhere, but a procedural move made months ago hinted at a potential departure. In March, Garrett agreed to push the $10 million roster bonus he was set to receive in late-March back to September. He agreed to the same date switch for similar bonuses in 2027 and 2028. Garrett gained nothing from the move, given that this money was already guaranteed or practically guaranteed. The Browns didn’t clear out cap space as part of the move. The only real benefit was creating a window in which it would be easier for the Browns to justify trading Garrett. They weren’t going to pay Garrett $10 million in 2026 and trade him weeks later. And though they could have traded him early in the 2026 league year, no trade offer seemed to be on the books, which is why Berry famously suggested that even talking about trading Garrett would be a waste of time. By waiting until June 1, Berry gets to spread the dead money for Garrett over two years. Between Watson and Garrett, the Browns will be on the hook for $101.5 million in dead money in 2027, a figure that probably will rise as more players move on over the course of typical business. But the cap will be clear in 2028, and the Browns will have as much financial flexibility as any team in the league to add talent moving forward. Clearing out cap space is one thing, but did the Browns actually get enough to justify trading their best player? I suspect the offers were better this year than they were last year, given that we’ve seen the league heavily lean toward paying premiums to acquire veteran defensive linemen such as Quinnen Williams, Dexter Lawrence II and Maxx Crosby, even if the latter’s deal ended up being annulled. It would have been surprising to see a team trade two first-round picks for a 29-year-old edge rusher last year, even one as talented and productive as Garrett. But one year later, with the Browns already having paid $25 million of his deal, anything short of two first-round picks would have seemed like a discount. Garrett is a year older, but he’s also coming off what might be his most dominant pro season. And in this market, teams like the Browns are empowered to ask for more while having realistic comparables to justify big price tags. The picks are valuable for a team with a huge hole in its draft history, of course. Even if we assume that the first-rounder falls toward the bottom of the round, the Browns found what looks to be a franchise cornerstone in Schwesinger at No. 33 in 2025. And if Stafford does retire after the 2026 season, the second- and third-round picks in future drafts could be closer to the top of those rounds than it seems at the moment. The Rams have happily traded future first-round picks and lived to tell the tale, and the Stafford trade became a triumph once they won a title. But the Rams did end up sending the No. 6 pick to the Lions in 2023, and that landed Detroit two key young players in Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta after a trade down. The most important addition for the Browns — and the player who should decide how this deal turns out for Cleveland in the long run, independent of whether Garrett wins a ring in Los Angeles — is Verse. If the Browns were going to insist on landing a young pass rusher in return for Garrett, Verse was one of the best options they had a realistic shot of landing. Teams such as the Giants (Abdul Carter) and Steelers (Nick Herbig) weren’t going to be getting Garrett. The Eagles were out of the running after trading for Jonathan Greenard. A three-team trade might have been plausible under the right circumstances, but if it was going to be a two-team deal, the Rams and their crop of young linemen were the obvious fit for both sides. And though he didn’t have the most sacks or the gaudiest numbers over the past two seasons, Verse probably was the most appealing candidate of the Rams’ linemen. Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske play on the interior, where the Browns already have Maliek Collins and 2025 first-rounder Mason Graham. Byron Young just earned a trip to the Pro Bowl with a 12-sack season, but he’s also one year away from unrestricted free agency and is already 28 years old. Verse, meanwhile, still has three years of cost control, with two years left on his rookie contract before a potential fifth-year option in 2028. After winning Defensive Rookie of the Year amid a weak class during his debut season with the Rams, Verse was devastating during their brief playoff run in 2024, racking up two sacks and a 57-yard fumble return for a score. I was one of the many who had hopes that Verse could take a leap and challenge to be among the league’s most impactful pass rushers in 2025. That sort of season never really came together. Verse was named to the Pro Bowl for the second time and produced 7.5 sacks, but he was overshadowed at times by Young and Turner. He did lead the team with three tackles for loss and seven quarterback hits during the postseason run, but at first glance, it felt as if Verse left some meat on the bone in his sophomore season. Under the hood, I’m not sure those concerns are warranted. Verse’s 27 quarterback knockdowns were just two short of Young’s team-leading 29. Verse matched his fellow edge rusher in terms of pressure rate (just under 14%) and quick pressure rate (4%). And he did that while being double-teamed twice as often as Young. Verse’s 4% quarterback pressure over expectation rate (QBPOE) led the team, per Next Gen Stats. Verse has already been very good, and I’m still quite optimistic that he can be the best player on an elite defense. Garrett’s athleticism makes other NFL players look as if they’re stuck in quicksand. Verse isn’t quite that devastating, but he has to have some of the heaviest hands and rates as one of the most physical edges in the league. He’s a hammer on twists, to which Mekhi Becton can attest, and he has the physical strength to manhandle even elite linemen like Tristan Wirfs and Joe Thuney on snaps. (Verse driving Thuney backward is what got Caleb Williams running backward on the Bears’ tying Hail Mary touchdown in the fourth quarter of the divisional round classic.) Verse also has the athleticism to beat linemen into gaps or rush around them. Last season, the Rams even used Verse lined up over the center and saw him destroy Colts pivot Tanor Bortolini. The play was reminiscent, of course, of how Jim Schwartz and the Browns used Garrett as a stand-up rusher to torment interior linemen in years past. Verse was the best player on the field in that game against Indy, soundly beating both Bortolini and left tackle Bernhard Raimann. In a league in which great pass rushers are going to be commanding a minimum of $30 million per season moving forward, Verse will make just $5 million over the next two years combined before an eventual 2028 fifth-year option, where he probably still will be undervalued. Surplus value doesn’t mean quite as much when the Browns don’t expect to compete over the next couple of seasons, but Verse represents a building block who projects to be in his peak when the Browns are out from under their cap mess and presumably have a quarterback around whom to build. There’s a non-zero chance he’s more productive than Garrett over the next three to five years at a fraction of the cost, which would make this an enormous victory for Cleveland. If the Rams had decided to make Verse available, I believe they would have been able to land a first-round pick and a significant additional selection, potentially a second-round pick, for their young edge rusher. Factor all that in and this return looks pretty strong for the Browns, who land the equivalent of two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a third-round selection for Garrett. If the organization had decided that it was going to trade Garrett, I’m not sure the return was ever going to be richer than this. Are there scenarios where this doesn’t work for either side?Of course. Starting from the Rams’ side, they’re exacerbating what was already going to be a medium-term problem. They were going to have a very expensive defensive line, and by swapping out Verse for Garrett, the numbers are only going up. Verse’s next deal might cost more than what the Rams currently have on the books for Garrett, but it would hardly be a surprise if the latter pushed for a contract sweetener over the next 12 months. The Rams have been happy to redo deals with the likes of Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald over the past few years. Given what they paid to acquire Garrett, I would expect a pay bump to come next offseason, even if it’s not as significant as a new contract. Does that preclude the Rams from re-signing Young, Fiske or Turner? It depends on what they’re willing to spend elsewhere. Puka Nacua will inevitably sign an extension, but Davante Adams is a free agent after the season. Stafford could retire, which would free up plenty of cash. And though the Rams were facing this problem with Verse, who would have been eligible for a contract extension after 2026, it’s possible that they didn’t intend or expect to sign their former first-rounder to an extension in the long run (although I think that’s unlikely). I do believe that Garrett was the best player the Rams had a realistic shot of using their first-round pick (and more) to acquire in aid of the 2026 team. Was edge rusher really their biggest position of need, though? No. I thought they could have looked at help along the offensive line or at wide receiver in Round 1. They still might be one defensive back short of a dominant secondary, even if they’re much improved there. And their off-ball linebackers remain among the least imposing group in football. Snead might not have used the team’s first-round pick to address those issues now, but he won’t have that pick at the deadline. What if Nacua goes down because of a torn ACL in September? What if Stafford’s back doesn’t respond to summer treatment and the Rams don’t think Simpson’s ready to play? I can’t fault the Rams for using their 2027 first-round pick to go after Garrett, but we might look back and say that they had bigger needs or only made a marginal move by swapping out Verse for Garrett. Injuries could also limit Garrett. Though he has been able to stay on the field over the past few years, a shoulder injury badly hampered Garrett down the stretch in 2023, when the Browns fielded an elite defense for most of the season. Garrett had 13 sacks through the first 10 games, but he managed only one over his final seven appearances. The Browns sustained their defense through takeaways, but with Garrett a nonfactor, they allowed the Texans offense to score 31 points in a blowout loss that postseason. Anyone can get hurt, but with so much tied up in one player between salary and acquisition costs, anything short of a spectacular 17-game season and deep playoff run from Garrett would mean the Rams were underwater on his deal. At 30, the aging curve could also come for Garrett. I don’t have any concerns about him from what I saw on tape last year, and his get-off still rates among the best in the NFL. But even the relatively modest aging curves for great edge rushers come with a pretty wide range of variance. T.J. Watt was a perennial first-team All-Pro in his 20s and then took a pretty noticeable step backward over the second half of 2024 and throughout 2025, his age-30 and age-31 seasons. Chandler Jones had 19 sacks in his age-29 season, was a first-team All-Pro, sat out most of his age-30 season and was out of football two years later. Von Miller had a 14.5-sack season at 29 in the middle of a Hall of Fame career and hasn’t topped double-digit sacks since then. I think Garrett will be productive for years to come, and the Rams are understandably focusing on what he does over the next couple of seasons as their primary concern, but nothing’s for certain in the NFL. There’s also a scenario in which Stafford suddenly declines or sits out significant time because of injuries, leaving the Rams in a world in which they get what they wanted out of Garrett, only for it not to matter. The Browns might also look back and wonder why they traded a Hall of Famer for a player who hasn’t topped eight sacks as a pro. Verse might top out as a good-but-not-great pass rusher who shows more flashes of brilliance than sustained elite play. He’d still be a valuable player on a rookie deal in that scenario, but most of that will come over the next two years, when the Browns aren’t going to be good either way. If the Browns trade Garrett for a solid pass-rusher and the 32nd pick in the draft as the two biggest parts of the return, that might not feel suitable in a deal for a future Hall of Famer. Those scenarios exist, but in the most likely universe, this trade ends up making sense for both parties. The Browns realized a significant and logical return for a player whose best remaining seasons were going to be wasted alongside a hopeless roster, and they’ll be in a better position to build a winner two years from now. The Rams can’t guarantee a title by adding Garrett, and it hurts to lose Verse, but this was a chance to bring in what might potentially be the most talented and productive peak player acquired in any trade during most of our lifetimes. It’s a rough day to be an Eagles fan, given that Philly just saw a potential NFC contender add a superstar while the Eagles traded one for a future pick. Teams such as the Lions, 49ers and Bears saw their chances of rising up the NFC get squeezed. And though the Seahawks don’t fear the Rams after knocking them out in Seattle last January, life just got that much harder for the defending champs. Nobody does all-in quite like the Rams. And the last time they loaded this much up for a single season, the Super Bowl ended with McVay and his team celebrating on their home turf in Inglewood. Anyone know where the Super Bowl happens to be this season? |
| NFC EAST |
| DALLASQB DAK PRESCOTT likes the cut of S CALEB DOWNS jib. Kevin Patra of NFL.com: The Caleb Downs offseason hype continues following the safety’s arrival in Dallas. Pitched as a key playmaker in the Cowboys’ revamped defense, Downs has received near-unanimous praise in seemingly every aspect, from playmaking ability to leadership qualities. Jerry Jones had the most notable quote this offseason, comparing Downs’ leadership abilities to those of quarterback Dak Prescott. The QB didn’t reject the comparison when asked over the weekend by the Dallas Morning News. “Just honestly, I can say in just the month, or whatever, I’ve been around the kid and watching the kid, hell, I think I take it as a compliment when those comparisons come around,” Prescott said. As the Cowboys worked through the early portion of voluntary offseason workouts, Downs earned praise for his confidence and demeanor. “How professional he is, how calm he is; quiet, yet confident,” Prescott said. “It’s contagious. You feel it. He’s a man who’s sure of who he is. When you are that way in this business, you know you can speak up, speak out. You can say things you believe and age doesn’t really matter, because you know you’re doing the right thing.” The Cowboys are set to begin voluntary OTAs on Monday, which brings increased on-field drills. While there is still no contact, the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills will provide some flashes of new defensive coordinator Christian Parker’s plans for Downs and the rest of the defense. So far, during the mental-downloading portion of the offseason slate, Downs has passed with flying colors. “He’s a guy that’s a leader just by the way that he carries himself and the way he approaches it,” Prescott said. “I know he’s leading that rookie class, but he understands the way that the locker room goes and what it means to earn veterans’ trust and to get their respect. He’s a humble kid that’s coming in there each and every day, quiet and grinding.” This on the origin of “cut of your jib” – Saying “I like the cut of your jib” means you approve of someone’s general appearance, personality, or style. It’s a slightly old-fashioned way of giving a compliment, essentially meaning: “I like your vibe, your demeanor, or the way you carry yourself”. The phrase has nautical origins from the “Age of Sail” in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The “Jib”: A jib is a triangular sail located at the front of a sailing vessel. The “Cut”: Different navies and countries used distinct cuts or shapes for their jib sails. The Meaning: Through a telescope, a seasoned sailor could look at the “cut” of a passing ship’s jib and instantly determine its nationality—identifying whether the ship was a friendly ally or a hostile enemy. Over time, “the cut of your jib” transitioned into slang for a person’s facial appearance, and eventually, into the modern, figurative phrase used today to express that you like someone’s overall style. |
| PHILADELPHIAKevin Patra of NFL.com on the deferred compensation the Eagles received for WR A.J. BROWN and Howie Roseman’s defense: When the long-awaited A.J. Brown trade to New England finally went down, the compensation the Eagles received seemed a bit less than initially anticipated. Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman entered the offseason reportedly seeking first- and second-round picks for the receiver with four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and three Pro Bowls. While that ask always seemed outsized, the eventual deal pushed that first-round compensation until 2028. Philly also added a 2027 fifth-rounder. The general rule for evaluating draft pick trades is to devalue each year by a round. So that 2028 first-rounder is valued similarly to a 2027 second-round pick. Extrapolating out, it’d have been equal to a 2026 third-rounder. However, that’s not how Roseman is mathing out the problem. “For us to take a 2026 pick, and that’s a late first-round pick, and obviously also have to deal with the cap consequences that come with making a trade prior to June 1, it made some sense for us to look at future picks,” Roseman said Monday, via The Athletic. “We’ve always been in the mindset that a pick is a pick — a first-round pick is a first-round pick. Doesn’t matter. Teams are still going to be playing football in 2028.” With all due respect to Roseman, one of the best GMs in the NFL, that’s hellish spin. It made perfect sense for Philly not to ask for a 2026 first-rounder in a shallow draft class, considering the financial implications of trading Brown before June 1. But the fact that the top-flight pick didn’t come in 2027 underscores the lack of leverage he had after the Los Angeles Rams bowed out of the running. The Eagles got less in return for Brown than the Dolphins did for Jaylen Waddle — 2026 first- and third-selections. Both are excellent receivers, and Waddle is 19 months younger, but Brown is clearly the better player at this stage, and a top-five wideout when he’s right. Roseman knows he’s spinning because, at some point, when the uber-trader is in a conversation with another GM about a potential trade and the Eagles are trying to squeeze out a more favorable deal, he’ll get that “a pick is a pick” quote thrown back in his face. Howie will probably chuckle and continue to push for a pick that isn’t two draft classes from when they’re dealing. Luckily for Roseman, he has the job security to wait until 2028 to get his first-round pick and could use that chip next year to move up. It’s not ideal, but given that the situation with Brown became untenable and Philly was negotiating from a negative position, it’s better than what they could have gotten. “I think from our perspective, getting a first-round pick for our team, having two first-round picks in ’28 is a huge, huge part of this move,” Roseman said. “I think that when you look at that and obviously the options of what you’re able to do with having multiple first-round picks, it’s a huge game-changer, and I feel very, very confident that those picks are the most valuable things that you can add as you’re building your team. I know there’s a lot of attention on the 2027 draft, but at the same time, looking at the ’28 draft, I feel confident that that’s going to be a good draft as well, and that we’ll be in position to really improve our football team.” Roseman got his first-round pick. He just has to wait a while before he can actually spend it. |
| NFC SOUTH |
| NEW ORLEANSWR CHRIS OLAVE hints he is close to his big-money second contract. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: While some players looking for contract extensions opt to skip voluntary offseason work periods in hopes of speeding the process along, Saints wide receiver Chris Olave has not gone that route this spring. Olave has been part of the Saints’ workouts and explained last week that being “committed to winning” led him to make that call. He said that contract talks are “a whole different side of the game” and General Manager Mickey Loomis said a few weeks ago that the two sides were “not there yet” despite a desire to get something done on both sides. Olave sounds optimistic that they’ll cover any remaining ground in the near future, though. “I feel like we’re going to come down to that before training camp,” Olave said, via WBRZ. “I hope we do, so we don’t affect the chemistry going into training camp, but I think it’s going to get done soon.” Olave set career bests with 100 catches for 1,163 yards and nine touchdowns during the 2025 season. The Saints added first-round pick Jordyn Tyson to the receiving corps in April and pairing both wideouts with second-year quarterback Tyler Shough is part of the team’s plan to contend for a playoff berth in 2026. |
| TAMPA BAYWR JALEN McMILLAN is raring to go. Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com: Buccaneers receiver Jalen McMillan played only four games last season after a scary neck injury that not only nearly ended his season but also jeopardized his career. McMillan fractured three vertebrae and had herniated discs after landing on his head in a preseason game. He caught 12 passes for 178 yards to close out last season. “I am happy,” McMillan said last week, via Matt Matera of Pewter Report. “Just to be out there and to catch balls from Baker [Mayfield] and just to run on my feet, I feel good. . . . I am definitely taking appreciation for the small things and celebrating small wins and call my mom and dad every day. I am not taking any relationship for granted, so life has been good. “I had to sit in my bed and wonder, ‘Is my neck going to heal correctly?’ So, as soon as I was given the opportunity to play again, I knew that I could not look back and there was no time to be nervous and no time to be thinking about anything.” The Bucs made McMillan a third-round pick in 2024, and he made 37 receptions for 461 yards and eight touchdowns in 13 games. The team needs that McMillan this season with Mike Evans now in San Francisco. “Jalen’s tough. His mental toughness is unbelievable,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. “His competitiveness, the way he attacks the ball, the way he fights for every route and tries to get open and wants to be ‘that guy,’ you know, that gives you a lot of confidence that he’ll be doing that in the games.” |
| NFC WEST |
| LOS ANGELES RAMSMichael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com on a unique double now that EDGE MYLES GARRETT is a Ram: With reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett joining reigning league MVP Matthew Stafford, the 2026 Rams will occupy a unique place in NFL history. This year’s Rams are the first team to have both the previous season’s MVP at quarterback, and the previous season’s Defensive Player of the Year on the roster as well. Stafford and Garrett won the league’s two most prestigious on-field awards for the 2025 season. Technically, two teams have had both the reigning MVP and the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, as two players have won both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season: Vikings defensive lineman Alan Page won both awards in 1971, the first year the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year award was given, and Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor won both awards in 1986. So the 1972 Vikings and 1987 Giants did have the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year on their teams, but both were the same person. The only other team to have both the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year was the 1994 49ers, with quarterback Steve Young and cornerback Deion Sanders. But Sanders left for Dallas in free agency that offseason, so the 1995 49ers did not have both reigning award winners. The Rams were already among the favorites to win the Super Bowl even before yesterday’s big trade. With Stafford remaining in Los Angeles and Garrett joining him, it’s easy to see why they’re now the overwhelming favorites. Now that he works in California, Garrett will pay a huge cost for that privilege. Mike Florio: New Rams defensive end Myles Garrett may wish he’d gotten his $29.2 million option bonus when it was originally due. As he prepares to move from Ohio to California, he’s looking at an increase in his top tax rate from 3.125 percent to 13.3 percent. For his option bonus, which is now due to be paid by seven days before the start of the regular season, it’s a difference of more than 10 percent of the total amount. Which is more than $2.9 million that will otherwise be missing from his after-tax payment. The tax obligation is more than enough to get Garrett to mobilize his agents, lawyers, and accountants to explore whether there’s a way to legitimately make it an Ohio payment, not a California payment. Stay in Ohio as long as possible. Get the Rams to make the payment before he loads up the truck and moves to Beverly. (Hills, that is.) With Garrett already giving up $1 million this year by sacrificing his offseason workout bonus, it’s a way to make it back and then some — if he can legitimately figure out a way to earn the $29.2 million while he’s still living in Ohio. And if the Rams will be reworking Garrett’s contract in order to bump up his new-money APY in order to close the gap between Garrett’s $40 million and Will Anderson’s $50 million, the sooner they do it, the better for Garrett. He needs to get the money while he’s still an Ohio resident in order to be able to make the argument that it’s not subject to California taxes. Of course, California may not be willing to go along with any W-2 gamesmanship. For that kind of money, California will be as aggressive in trying to get 13.3 percent of the $29.2 million (or whatever his pre-relocation bonus payment may be) as Garrett should be in trying to avoid it. Jordan Rodrigue of The Athletic on the Rams and how they fulfilled their long romance with Garrett: Superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett walked through the cavernous concrete tunnels of SoFi Stadium well after Cleveland’s 2023 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. A black SUV pulled up next to him; the window rolled down. Inside was Sean McVay. “I didn’t f—ing sleep all week because of you,” the Rams head coach told Garrett, laughing. Ahead of that game, McVay and his offensive coaches had agonized over how to slow down Garrett, a player so dominant in his nine NFL seasons that he has twice won Defensive Player of the Year honors and broke the league’s single-season sack record last season. Now, Garrett will play for McVay following Monday’s landscape-altering trade agreement between the Rams and Browns. In exchange for Garrett, Cleveland will receive third-year pass rusher Jared Verse (a first-round pick in 2024), a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-rounder and a 2029 third-rounder. Garrett has had many complimentary interactions with coaches in his illustrious career. But McVay’s comments, Garrett once told The Athletic, would always stand out to him because of the Rams coach’s status in the league and his directness — and also because the two might never have crossed paths if Garrett had not left the locker room that day exactly when he did. “The timing was impeccable,” he said. Years later, it would be again. With a potential window to trade Garrett opening on June 1, the Rams and the Browns had been discussing a trade involving Garrett for months, starting in late March. By Saturday, it was agreed to but for a few final details, multiple league sources said. But if not for the specific timing of many variables — Garrett’s disappointment with Cleveland; his no-trade clause and recent contract adjustment; the Browns’ shift in team-building strategy; L.A.’s willingness to give up a favorite young player; even the Rams’ controversial first-round selection in April’s NFL Draft — such a seismic move could never have happened. Even a few days before it became official, the trade’s magnitude still felt a little unbelievable to the people involved. As one high-ranking team source put it: “This is gonna break the NFL.” The Rams have coveted Garrett for years. He’s one of McVay’s favorite players — ever. The coach believes Garrett could eventually be regarded as the best outside pass rusher of all time. Featuring him within the defense, the Rams’ decision makers believe, will give them a similar advantage to the one they enjoyed with future Hall of Fame defensive lineman Aaron Donald. Donald’s dominance required the attention of multiple players on every snap, similar to Garrett — whose double-team rate on pass rush snaps was nearly 60 percent last season, per Pro Football Focus, the second highest of any defensive lineman. When an offense dedicates its blocking and protection plan to either stopping or shifting the play direction away from one player, it becomes vastly more predictable to their opponent. Further, Garrett’s ability to win quickly and close on the quarterback, and to convert that pressure into hits and sacks, has long reminded the Rams of the benefits Donald used to give the second and third levels of their defense, especially the McVay and his coaching staff used to joke with each other: “Who is the best cornerback on our roster? … It’s Aaron Donald.” L.A. first called the Browns to inquire about Garrett’s availability in 2022 as the Rams attempted to repeat as Super Bowl champions, according to a league source. |
| SEATTLEThe Seahawks have extended EDGE DERICK HALL. Mookie alexander of FieldGulls.com: The Seattle Seahawks have secured the long term services of one of their key defensive players who was instrumental in their Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots. No, not Devon Witherspoon. At least not yet. But the Seahawks did come to terms with fourth-year edge rusher Derick Hall, whose three-year extension averages out to a very reasonable $14 million/year and has $21 million of the $42 million guaranteed. We’re going on technicalities here, but Hall is effectively the first edge rusher drafted by John Schneider to receive a contract extension. Darrell Taylor did re-sign on a one-year deal at the end of his rookie contract in the 2024 offseason, only to be traded to the Chicago Bears during preseason. Hall may have had just two sacks in the 2025 regular season, but his advanced metrics indicated someone who played better than the lack of sacks indicated. In Super Bowl 60, Hall sacked Drake Maye twice and forced a critical fumble that led to Seattle’s only offensive touchdown. The former Auburn player is two seasons removed from eight sacks in 2024, and the departure of Boye Mafe plus the pending free agency of Uchenna Nwosu indicates that Hall will be one of the cornerstones of Seattle’s pass rushing unit. At $14 million/year, Hall’s average is in the range of Bradley Chubb, Harold Landry, and Kwity Paye. The best should still be yet to come for the 25-year-old, and this contract looks like an absolute steal before we even know the full details. |
| AFC NORTH |
| CLEVELANDEveryone loves the Rams side of the trade that netted them generational pass rusher EDGE MYLES GARRETT. How did the Browns do? Jeff Howe of The Athletic also gives Cleveland an “A+”: Browns grade: A+The Browns probably didn’t lose any value by holding onto Garrett a year or two too long. The Rams’ first-round pick will likely be later on the board, but they’ve added a strong asset if they need to move up the board for a QB in the 2027 draft. They won’t see the benefits of the next two picks for a while, but it’s not like this is an overnight rebuild. Verse, a 2024 first-round pick, is already a star with the potential for more. The 25-year-old was the AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and has made the Pro Bowl in both of his seasons. He has 12 sacks in two years. The Browns needed to get younger and cheaper across the board to give themselves a chance to compete until the books are cleared of the Watson carnage. Garrett was a franchise pillar, so this will hurt. But they weren’t likely to contend anytime soon, so it made far too much sense to restock the cupboard and give Garrett an opportunity to elevate his profile with the potential for extended playoff runs. Sayre Bedinger of DawgPoundDaily.com on the importance of Verse: So what finally tipped the scales? According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, it wasn’t a what, but a who: Jared Verse. Rapoport says that the Browns had been getting calls from the Los Angeles Rams and general manager Les Snead dating back to the 2026 NFL Draft. And early on, Snead was being told there was not a trade to be made involving Myles Garrett. But Snead was persistent and kept calling until he finally added Verse into the trade discussions. When that happened, the door opened for a blockbuster deal to be made. Cleveland Browns turned down multiple Myles Garrett trade offers before Jared Verse was included The idea of getting a bunch of unknown draft picks for a player like Myles Garrett, no matter how impressive the haul of picks, just doesn’t seem right. The idea of getting a young star player like Jared Verse and an impressive haul of picks? That is the kind of deal that can end up being a win-win in the long run. Garrett is fresh off of his second Defensive Player of the Year campaign. He broke the NFL record by racking up an astonishing 23 sacks this past season. Even at the age of 30 going on 31 later this year, Garrett still holds incredible value, and the Browns weren’t going to take anything less than a king’s ransom for the NFL’s best defensive player. And that’s exactly what they got. The centerpiece of the deal, according to Rapoport, was Jared Verse. |
| AFC EAST |
| NEW ENGLANDAdam Schefter and Mike Reiss of ESPN.com on the trade that brought WR A.J. BROWN to Foxborough: The Eagles agreed Monday to trade star wide receiver A.J. Brown to the Patriots for a first-round draft pick in 2028 and a 2027 fifth-round pick. The fifth-round selection will be the better of New England’s two picks in that round of next year’s draft, sources told ESPN. The trade, which has been discussed and anticipated across the NFL for months, reunites Brown and Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. In a statement posted to Instagram on Monday, Brown thanked the Eagles and their fans. “Playing for this city has been an honor, and I’m thankful for every moment I had in midnight green. Thank you, Philly. Much love always. God bless,” he wrote. Brown, who turns 29 on June 30, gives Patriots quarterback Drake Maye a No. 1 target as part of a revamped top of the receiver depth chart alongside free agent signing Romeo Doubs. The Eagles, likewise, have planned for Brown’s departure all offseason, trading up in the first round of this year’s draft for USC receiver Makai Lemon while also trading for Green Bay Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks and signing Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore as free agents. By waiting until June 1, the Eagles can now split Brown’s $40 million salary cap charge between 2026 and 2027. “I think that when we looked at the totality of the circumstances and having the conversations we had with him, felt like where we were, where we were going, where he was, that if we could find something that kind of achieved our goals of getting a first-round pick going forward here in the near future, getting the money back to spend on other players on our team and other teams and it was a win-win situation based on where he was and how he felt, we were open to that,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said Monday. Since entering the league as a second-round selection of the Vrabel-coached Tennessee Titans in 2019, Brown is fourth in the NFL in both receiving yards (8,029) and touchdown catches (56). Brown and Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase are the NFL’s only two players with at least 1,000 receiving yards and seven-plus touchdown catches in each of the past four seasons. Brown left his mark on Philadelphia, where he has the two highest single-season receiving yard totals in franchise history: 1,496 yards in 2022 and 1,456 in 2023. But Brown’s frustrations with the Eagles’ offense grew the past two seasons, bubbling to the surface via cryptic social media posts or during media scrums, even amid winning streaks. The three-time Pro Bowler declined to speak to the media in the latter stages of the 2025 season, coinciding with his on-field meeting with CEO Jeffrey Lurie in mid-November when Brown promised he would stop complaining publicly. The Patriots inherit Brown’s contract, which runs through the 2029 season and averages $32 million per season, which is the seventh highest in the NFL among receivers. New England was one of Brown’s preferred destinations, in part because of Vrabel. Brown played for Vrabel from 2019 to 2021 with the Titans, and the two have maintained a connection beyond football, according to Vrabel. The addition of Brown reflects how the Patriots have aggressively changed their receiving corps since losing to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, which began with the release of leading receiver Stefon Diggs in March. Diggs totaled 85 receptions for 1,013 yards and four touchdowns in his one season with the Patriots. Vrabel previously said he believed the Patriots will be able to replace that production but was more focused on matching the remarkable efficiency Diggs provided (83.3% catch rate). The 6-foot-1, 226-pound Brown is more of a perimeter target than Diggs, while Doubs (6-2, 204) is viewed by the Patriots as an interchangeable receiver who can move around the formation. In March, the Patriots signed Doubs to a four-year, $68 million base value contract as one of their top free agent acquisitions. Brown and Doubs top a depth chart that also includes veteran Mack Hollins, fourth-year players Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas, 2025 third-round pick Kyle Williams, and slot Efton Chism III. The Patriots will be the first team in NFL history to begin the season with four straight games against playoff teams from the previous season after playing in the Super Bowl, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. |
