Over the past two weeks, the rumor mill has been churning with Myles Garrett reports following the All-Pro edge rusher’s demand to the Cleveland Browns that he be traded elsewhere, and some of those reports indicate the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles may be his ultimate destination.
As BLG ably laid out in his article linked above, there are a number of reasons why a Garrett-to-Philadelphia scenario makes sense.
Cleveland GM Andrew Berry is a former Eagles executive who worked directly under Howie Roseman, leaving just after the 2019 season for his current job with the Browns. While that relationship doesn’t guarantee the Birds move to the front of any perceived Myles Garrett trade line, negotiations are always helped when the two parties have a cordial, if not friendly history with one another.
Cleveland insists they are not trading Garrett, but Garrett insists he is not interested in engaging in contract renegotiations with the Browns. He sees the team will be starting over again this off-season and, with 2025 being his age-30 season, he understands there may not be many more opportunities for him to contribute to a Super Bowl contender. The Browns don’t care about “helping” the Eagles repeat, as they play in a different conference and aren’t going to contend for a Super Bowl for at least a few years.
Obviously, landing Garrett would be a coup for the Eagles, who will likely lose Josh Sweat and Milton Williams to free agency in a couple weeks. Replacing them with Garrett, whose 102.5 sacks since his 2017 rookie season is second-most in the NFL (T.J. Watt, 108), would instantly give the Eagles’ pass rush the best Edge they’ve had since, perhaps, Reggie White.
Despite their incredible performance against the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, the Eagles’ defensive line didn’t specialize in sacks for most of the season. Their 41 sacks were tied for 13th-most in the league last year, but they turned on the jets when it mattered most. Bryce Huff’s future with the team remains cloudy, and with Brandon Graham set to retire, the top two Edge rushers on the defensive line next year are Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt. Both showed tremendous improvement and production as the season went along, and hopes are high they will continue to ascend and become cornerstone players. But further additions are needed.
And there is, of course, the added benefit of adding a highly motivated 30-year-old future Hall of Famer to a championship roster. The Eagles would be unlikely to suffer any complacency to repeat with Garrett in the fold. Adding new blood to the mix can only help with motivation and keeping things fresh.
Roseman will likely add to the mix in next month’s draft as well, even if he deals away his first round pick for Garrett. But there are two things that cannot happen in order for a Garrett trade to take place.
The Eagles cannot include Nolan Smith or Jalyx Hunt in the deal for Garrett.
In order for this to make sense, Garrett needs to be added to that dynamic duo, not replacing one of them. If the deal costs you one of Smith or Hunt, then you might as well just add a depth edge in free agency and with your first round pick and hope Huff improves in Year No. 2 in Philadelphia.
The Eagles cannot let a new contract for Garrett get in the way of re-signing Zack Baun to a new deal.
Yes, I am prioritizing re-signing Baun over trading for Myles Garrett. Call me nuts, but we saw that you don’t need Garrett to win the Super Bowl. Without Baun anchoring the middle of the defense, there is no one left to replace him in ‘25. Oren Burks is great for what he is, but Nakobe Dean will miss a good portion of next year. We saw how vital having a star linebacker is to defensive cohesion, and the Eagles absolutely must retain Baun, even if they have to overpay.
If that means they can’t trade for Garrett, so be it.
Something tells me Roseman knows this and won’t do anything foolish to land him.
