Myles Garrett breaks silence after stunning trade to Rams: Live updates – USA Today

It’s a big splash in the NFL to kick off the summer.
The Cleveland Browns are trading Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams. The teams made it official at 4 p.m. ET June 1.
It’s a deal that will send Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick and other draft compensation to the Browns in exchange for Garrett. The All-Pro edge is the latest superstar to end up with the Rams, who continue to build towards another Super Bowl in the Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford era.
L.A. came up short in 2025 and is determined to avoid the same failure in 2026. It returns the Rams to a familiar team-building strategy that helped establish them as one of the NFL’s best teams. The Rams have always been willing to part with draft picks in exchange for premium talent.
It just so happens that the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year was available for trade.
Of course, the Browns never officially announced their intention to trade the star. However, a contract modification in March and a proposed rule change to trade draft picks five years into the future made a deal seem likely. Cleveland eventually rescinded that proposal, but it wasn’t hard for people to connect the dots.
Head coach Todd Monken added more fuel to the fire when he admitted that he hasn’t met with Garrett face-to-face. Prior to the trade news, Monken told reporters on June 1 that he wasn’t guaranteed that Garrett would be on the roster.
And now he won’t be.
Garrett is coming off a 23-sack season, which was a new single-season sack record. Despite plenty of losses with the Browns, Garrett was never the reason. Now he’ll have a chance to go chase a ring in Hollywood.
He’ll hope the ending resembles something straight out of a movie.
Rams receive:
Browns receive:
The Browns took every opportunity to thank Garrett and express gratitude for his nine stellar seasons in Cleveland.
“Myles never stopped raising the bar for what greatness looks like,” the team wrote in a social media post. “We are grateful for every memory and every milestone from these nine unforgettable years.”
Meanwhile, Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam also lauded the 30-year-old in a statement, referring to his legacy with the team as “immense.”
“Myles Garrett has been the best player on our team and one of the best defensive players in the history of the game, since we drafted him in 2017,” the Haslams said. “His legacy is immense and we could never adequately articulate our appreciation for how he played the game and for being the best player he could be for the Cleveland Browns over the last nine years. He has left a deep imprint on our franchise, with our fans and with the Dawg Pound.”
Garrett also received praise from Browns general manager Andrew Berry, who provided fans with an explanation of the team’s decision to trade the star pass rusher.
“We have long taken the stance that our goal was for Myles Garrett to be a one-helmet player for his entire career,” Berry said. “After rewriting the record books and representing our organization with excellence, we were sincere in that desire as we entered this offseason and did not envision a world where Myles was not a Cleveland Brown.
“When the Rams first approached us with the possibility of trading Myles, we remained convicted in our position, but as discussions intensified we were stuck at a legitimate crossroads: do we hold on to a truly generational player who has become the identity of our team, or do we make the difficult decision that we think is best for the organization over the long run?
“In that framework, the decision became clear, although our emotions were muddled. We, and more importantly, our fans, have grown up with Myles, and he’s an enormous source of pride for our team. However, as we embark on a new era of Browns football with a young core and a replenished asset base, we felt this move was important to our transition.
“Chief among the considerations to make the decision was the inclusion of Jared Verse – a player our fan base will love. At 25 years old with two Pro Bowls and a Defensive Rookie of the Year award under his belt, we receive a young, elite player at a premium position who will only continue to improve in his third NFL season. Jared’s passion and relentless style of play will be embraced by our fans. He will fit right in with the established identity of our defense. We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome him to the Dawg Pound!
“We recognize the unexpected nature of this trade, but it opens up great opportunities for our franchise. We are excited to welcome Jared into the organization, along with the cap flexibility and draft pick resources to deploy to the rest of the roster that will allow us to add to our budding core on both sides of the ball.”
Garrett gave Browns fans nothing but love on his way out of Cleveland. He posted a lengthy statement to his social media accounts expressing his gratitude for the way “Cleveland, Northeast Ohio, and every Browns fan” treated him during his nine years with the team.
“From my very first play, you embraced me, and I wanted to help bring winning back to a city whose loyalty, resilience, and belief never wavered,” Garrett wrote in part. “What I didn’t fully understand then was how much this city would shape me.
“Cleveland made me tougher. You challenged me. You taught me about perseverance, about showing up even when things aren’t easy, and what loyalty really looks like. Through the highs, lows, setbacks, injuries, expectations, inclement weather, and difficult seasons, you all kept showing up.
“I never took that for granted.”
Garrett continued to thank fans and the Ohio community for the support they gave him over the years. He also shouted out the Haslam family and his teammates in the message, before wrapping it up by saying the following:
“The best days for this franchise are ahead. Thank you for letting me grow here. Thank you for believing in me. Loving you is easy, leaving you is the hard part. Thank you for nine unforgettable years.”
Below is a look at Garrett’s statement in full:
Verse is a 25-year-old edge rusher that the Rams selected with the 19th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
He was named the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year after recording 4.5 sacks, 66 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 18 quarterback hits and two force fumbles. Verse followed that up with 7.5 sacks in his second season to go along with 58 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 27 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles.
He is considered a rising star across the league, but becomes somewhat of an afterthought in a trade involving a future Hall of Famer.
It shouldn’t be overlooked that Verse is a player who better fits the timeline the Browns are operating on. He is a young player who can grow with the team, while Garrett is someone at the height of his powers who better aligns with a squad trying to win now.
Verse is entering the third year of his four-year rookie deal, which is worth about $15.1 million. It comes with an AAV of about $3.78 million a year.
Since Verse was a first-round pick, his contract includes a fifth-year option that the Browns can exercise next offseason. If picked up, Verse would be under contract with the Browns through the 2028 season.
Garrett is a winner both off and on the field in this deal, explains Nate Davis, but Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson are on the losing end of it. As they continue vying for the Browns’ 2026 QB1 job … they can pretty much rest assured they’re keeping it warm for the guy who gets drafted in next year’s first round now that GM Andrew Berry has additional draft capital.
Garrett is 30 years old. He was born on Dec. 29, 1995 in Arlington, Texas, meaning he will turn 31 before the end of his 10th NFL season.
Garrett inked a four-year, $160 million extension with the Browns on March 9, 2025. It was a record-breaking contract at the time, making the star the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
It is worth $40 million in average annual value (AAV) and includes $123.5 million guaranteed.
Garrett is under contract through the 2030 NFL season.
Garrett was drafted by the Browns with the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and became an instant star in the league.
Through nine seasons, Garrett played 134 regular-season games and has 125.5 sacks to show for it. He has put up video game-like numbers across the board with 412 total tackles, 149 tackles for loss, 239 quarterback hits, 23 forced fumbles and 18 passes defended.
On top of that, Garrett is a five-time All-Pro, seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Garrett owns the NFL’s single-season sack record, a mark he set last season by racking up 23 sacks across 17 games for the Browns last year.
Garrett’s 125.5 career sacks are tied with Dwight Freeney for the 28th-most in NFL history. They are also far and away the most ever by a member of the Browns, as the second-place finisher on that list, Bill Glass, racked up 77.5 sacks during his time with the team.
Garrett requested a trade in Feb. 2025. He ultimately decided to play for the Browns after receiving a big-money extension, but here’s what he wrote at the time.
“As a kid dreaming of the NFL, all I focused on was the ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl – and that goal fuels me today more than ever,” Garrett wrote in a statement. “My love for the community of Northeast Ohio and the incredible fanbase of the Cleveland Browns has made this one of the toughest decisions of my life. These past eight years have shaped me into the man I am today.
“While I’ve loved calling this city my home, my desire to win and compete on the biggest stages won’t allow me to be complacent. The goal was never to go from Cleveland to Canton, it has always been to compete for and win a Super Bowl.
“With that in mind, I have requested to be traded from the Cleveland Browns.”
Garrett’s intention was to play for a contender and the Rams certainly fit that mold – even if the trade came well over a year later.
At least one Rams player is stumping for another perennial All-Pro to join the team and play alongside Garrett.
Cornerback Jaylen Watson, who signed with the Rams as a free agent during the 2026 NFL offseason, took to social media to ask Aaron Donald to come out of retirement and return to Los Angeles.
“[H]it me big bro,” Watson wrote in an X post that tagged Donald’s handle.Donald has not played since 2023, and said earlier this month month that he does not plan to return.
Garrett is dating Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim. The couple was first rumored to be together after they appeared at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in Japan in May 2025.
Kim had since been seen at Browns training camp and games while Garrett attended the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics to cheer on the snowboarder.
The couple confirmed the relationship in Nov. 2025.
Both teams walked away from this deal with good grades, according to USA TODAY Sports’ Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz. The Rams earned an ‘A’ and the Browns received an ‘A-‘ even though they parted ways with the best player in the trade.
Read the full breakdown here.
As expected, Garrett is the big winner from this trade. On the flip side, there are plenty of losers and none of them are bigger than the NFC West quarterbacks that will now lose sleep at night thinking of Garrett. USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis broke it down and you can read all of that analysis here.
Garrett finished the 2025 season with 23 sacks, a new NFL single-season sack record. It brought his career total to 125.5 sacks and tied him for 20th on the NFL’s official all-time sack list.
The Rams are now the clear favorites to win Super Bowl 61, according to BetMGM. They are listed at +600, with the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks both checking in at +1000.
This story will be updated.

source