Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns, along with the other teams near the bottom of the standings, will be connected to several potential trades between now and the NFL’s trade deadline on November 4.
General manager Andrew Berry has already made three deals since the start of the season, sending veteran quarterback Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals and cornerback Greg Newsome II to the Jacksonville Jaguars, while bringing in offensive tackle Cam Robinson.
With the season going nowhere at 2-6 and the Browns on their bye week, Berry can spend the next week evaluating the situation and could look to move some of the team’s veterans who are not part of the plan after this season.
There is one major move that Berry could theoretically make, and that is to trade defensive end Myles Garrett, the league’s best defensive player.
While it is true that the Browns and Garrett agreed on a four-year contract extension in the offseason with $123.6 million in guaranteed money, there is no other player on the roster who would bring back the type of draft capital the Browns desperately need after going three years without a first-round selection, thanks to the disastrous Deshaun Watson trade.
That is the logic that Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer laid out earlier today in making the case for the Browns to be at least open to dealing Garrett:
A potential trade is about what’s best for the Browns, the timeline for their rebuild, and Garrett’s career timeline (just to be clear, the team has been steadfast in saying it won’t trade him).
The Browns, to their credit, acknowledged their position in trading the second pick in April. Moving that choice and the right to take Travis Hunter was an admission that the roster needed an influx of youth and wasn’t one player away from being a contender. What’s more, it’s actually started to work, with a bumper crop of rookies headlined by Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger, Quinshon Judkins, and Harold Fannin Jr. flashing big-time potential.
So, now is the time to lean into their strategy. For argument’s sake, let’s say the Browns could get two first-round picks, a 2026 second-round pick, and a ’27 third-round pick for Garrett. In that scenario, Cleveland would have three first-round picks and two second-rounders in ’26, and a total of 10 picks in the first five rounds, and two first-rounders and five picks in the first three rounds of the ’27 draft.
Add that to the core the Browns are starting to build with the 2025 class, and they’re looking at an opportunity to be firing on all cylinders by ’27 or ’28.
Let’s check a few of the reasons that Breer lays out in his case:
