SI’s Albert Breer Talks Myles Garrett & AJ Brown Trades with Rich

Albert Breer came on fresh off his must-read Sports Illustrated piece on the Myles Garrett trade, and he filled in the behind-the-scenes story Rich had been chasing all week.

The first question was why a done deal sat under wraps for hours. Breer said it was chaotic, and the holdup came down to one relationship. Sean McVay is close with Jared Verse, the young star going to Cleveland, and McVay still carries regret over how he once handled the Jared Goff situation. So the Rams insisted McVay get to tell Verse face-to-face before he learned it any other way. The plan was to hold the news until 8 p.m. Eastern. It leaked by morning instead.

This was not a casual listing. The Rams first called Cleveland at the 2022 trade deadline, Breer revealed, and kept chipping away for years. The first answer was no, and the Browns never budged for picks alone. Andrew Berry's front office worked off three principles: any deal had to serve both the short and long term, it had to bring back a premium young player at a premium position on a cost-controlled contract, and it had to include premium draft capital on top. Once the Rams met all three, it got done.

The Ty Simpson pick, Breer reiterated, was the unlock. The Rams came four points shy of the Super Bowl and still spent the 13th overall pick on a quarterback, baffling people who wanted Stafford help now. The logic was forward-looking: secure the quarterback of the future, and every future pick becomes spendable. Fail to get that quarterback, and those picks, likely low in the order, become a hoard you cannot touch. Drafting Simpson freed the Rams to package picks for Garrett, and since the June 1 timing meant they could not use a 2026 pick anyway, they spent it on Simpson.

Breer was careful to frame the Cleveland side with respect. The Browns view this the way they would trading a Jim Brown or an Otto Graham, and handled it accordingly. Garrett, back from a trip abroad, flew in to meet with Berry and owner Jimmy Haslam, an amicable conversation befitting a player they hope retires a Brown and enters Canton in their colors. Todd Monken was actually on Garrett's Cleveland staff back in 2019, serving as offensive coordinator.

What softens the blow, in Breer's telling, is the rebuild. Cleveland pivoted 13 months ago, with Garrett's championship-era core aging out and the Deshaun Watson trade having drained their pick capital. A strong rookie class, headlined by a defensive Rookie of the Year and standout Mason Graham, has them young again. Add Verse, who fits the age window, and a haul that gives them roughly a dozen top-100 picks over the next three years, and the question becomes where Garrett would be by the time this group peaks.

On the A.J. Brown trade, Breer traced the 2028 first-round structure back to earlier Eagles-Rams talks that themselves helped trigger the Garrett move, and chalked the divorce up to Brown's professional frustration with how the offense ran through Jalen Hurts.

And on the question consuming everyone, whether Aaron Donald might unretire to join Garrett, Breer was skeptical. He believes Donald is happy in retirement and could not see him grinding through a full camp. But he noted Donald was practically the template. The Rams' whole philosophy, forged through years of swinging, is that if you are going to swing, it has to be for a franchise player. Garrett qualifies.