Tom Pelissero Breaks Down EXACTLY How the Myles Garrett-Rams Trade Happened

The Myles Garrett trade did not come together overnight, and Tom Pelissero walked through exactly how the Browns and Rams got there.

The two sides had been talking since right after the draft. Cleveland spent the offseason saying it had no intention of moving Garrett, but to Pelissero's ear, the denials never sounded as firm as they had a year earlier. No rival team truly emerged in the process. Then, about 72 hours before the news broke, the framework snapped into place.

The Browns had a non-negotiable. "The Browns were not going to do it unless they got Jared Verse as part of the deal," Pelissero said. Around that centerpiece came a haul of picks: a 2027 first-rounder, a 2028 second-rounder and a 2029 third-rounder.

Pelissero pointed to the timing of that 2027 first as the tell. It lands in a draft regarded as a strong one, particularly for quarterbacks. Cleveland heads into 2026 with Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson, and now has the ammunition to chase a passer the following year if it wants one.

The Rams' motivation was simpler. "They're going for it," Pelissero said. Los Angeles re-signed Matthew Stafford at this stage of his career and has leaned into acquiring veterans rather than building slowly. The front office sees a window to capitalize on Stafford at the tail end of his career, still close to his prime.

Garrett is the kind of player who justifies that aggression. Pelissero called him one of the rarest difference makers in the entire NFL, the sort there are only so many of walking the face of the earth. Parting with Verse, he acknowledged, is not easy given how good the young player already is. But Garrett is the exception you stretch for.

Then came the money. The deal becomes official after 4 p.m. Eastern, which helps Cleveland soften the blow by pushing some of the cap hit into 2027. The bonus money already paid out on Garrett's most recent deal stays on the Browns' books.

For the Rams, the math is cleaner than it looks. Los Angeles is taking on Garrett's base salary, which Pelissero put at roughly 31 million dollars this season between the option bonus and salary. The Rams can convert some of that to knock the number down, though not dramatically. In effect, they get Garrett for the cash they owe him.