Superstar pass-rusher Myles Garrett has officially handed in his trade request to the Cleveland Browns. Now, teams around the NFL will line up for a chance to bring in one of the biggest defensive difference-makers in the league. One team that will be at the front of that line is the Detroit Lions, who must offer this deal to the Browns.
The Lions must send two picks to the Browns in a Myles Garrett trade
Browns get: 2024 second-round pick and 2025 third-round pick
Lions get: Myles Garrett
Before we get into the compensation, let’s talk about why the Lions will want to put together a competitive offer to be the high bidder in this Garrett auction.
The Lions were arguably the best team in football for most of the regular season until injury and having Jared Goff at quarterback took their toll. The latter is not something the Lions are going to fix this offseason, so beefing up the roster’s overall talent and depth is what they should focus on.
Before Aidan Hutchinson got hurt, the third-year defensive end had 7.5 sacks in five games and was an early leader for NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Losing him hurt, and the Lions didn’t put nearly as much heat on opposing quarterbacks after that.
Having a player like Garrett would have mitigated that loss, but more importantly, moving forward, a Hutchinson-Garret 1-2 punch would quickly become the most fearsome pass-rush in the league.
And with the way the Lions are built, with the solid but mostly unspectacular Goff at QB, having an absolutely dominant defense would push Detroit to yet another level and be something they can rely on in the postseason if Goff has another multi-interception meltdown like he did in the loss to the Washington Commanders.
So, since getting Garrett is paramount to the Lions taking the next step in Super Bowl contention, the next question is, what should the offer be?
Looking back at the last few NFL trades for premier pass rushers, the New York Giants got Brian Burns from the Carolina Panthers for a second-round pick, a fifth-round pick, and a fifth-round pick swap. Before that, the New York Jets got Haason Reddick from the Philadelphia Eagles for a conditional third-round pick that could have become a second-rounder.
That’s all well and good but Garrett is a better player than Burns or Reddick. So, the offer will have to be a little bigger. That said, the Browns lost a lot of leverage with the official Myles Garrett trade request, so the Lions shouldn’t have to give up their first-round pick to make it happen.
With a second-rounder this year and a third-rounder next year, the Browns get the best deal for any top pass-rusher in the last few years and two premium Day 2 selections that should help them rebuild. The reason the second pick is a third-rounder here and not a fourth is that the Lions want to really put forth a great offer to outbid other teams, and since Detriot picks so late in rounds this year (and presumably next) they will have to pay a premium.
The other thing Detroit has going for it is that they play in the NFC, so if the Browns do deal Garrett they won’t have to see him all that often as they might if they dealt him to an AFC squad.
All this adds up to the fact that Myles Garrett should be on his way to the Lions in a trade if Detroit plays its cards right.
