Rams trade for Myles Garrett
Do Seahawks need to respond to Rams' blockbuster move to upgrade from Jared Verse to Myles Garrett?
Myles Garrett has entered the NFC West and not with the team that Seahawks fans were hoping he’d end up with in his career. The Los Angeles Rams are trading a 2027 first-round pick and outside linebacker Jared Verse for Garrett. Additional draft pick compensation is expected to go back to Cleveland, but the crux of the trade is apparent:
The Rams now have Myles Garrett instead of Jared Verse, minus a first-round pick next year
The Browns now have Verse instead of Garrett, plus a (probably late) first-round pick next year
From almost angle this trade makes the 2026 Rams better — and as Seaside Joe just wrote about on Sunday, they were the only team close to beating the Seahawks for a Super Bowl championship last season — and it puts pressure on Sam Darnold, Charles Cross, and Abe Lucas to not get dominated by an L.A. pass rusher in the way that Aaron Donald owned Seattle for so long.
Repeating as Super Bowl champions is hard no matter what a team does or how their competition reacts by the moves they make the following offseason, so it’s too soon for Seahawks fans to panic about the surprising news that Seattle is facing Garrett (NFL record 23 sacks last year) not zero times, but twice.
Still, this is a significantly different Rams defense than the one that Seattle eked by twice last season, including the NFC Championship. Do Seahawks need to react by making a trade of their own?
How the Rams are better
Last season, L.A.’s biggest weakness was in the secondary, a soft spot that Klint Kubiak, Darnold, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were often able to exploit during Seattle’s two wins over the Rams. Since then, the Rams have traded a first-round pick for cornerback Trent McDuffie and signed free agent Jaylen Watson.
L.A. goes from starting Darious Williams and Cobie Durant at cornerback to McDuffie and Watson, a duo that was already starting next to each other on the Kansas City Chiefs for the past four years—and winning two Super Bowls as teammates.
Those moves addressed the Rams’ most obvious need, but fans were befuddled when general manager Les Snead opted to draft quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick instead of a receiver or a pass rusher.
Now we have a better idea as to why Snead may have felt that the Rams weren’t done making upgrades on the roster.
Rams pursued Garrett for months
The Browns made modifications to Garrett’s contract in March that would make him easier to trade after June 1st, which is when the Rams decided that they had to have Myles Garrett.
The two sides tried to work out a deal before the 2026 draft, but when that fell through, Snead began to soften his stance that L.A. would not include Verse in any deal. Finally, once Cleveland lowered their asking price for draft picks—knowing how badly they wanted a 25 year old replacement for Garrett who could develop into one of the league’s biggest stars at the position—the Rams were open to including Verse.
Although Verse is known for having perhaps the deadliest bull rush in the NFL today, he’s not Garrett. His 7.5 sacks last season is paltry compared to the 23 by Garrett, and he only has 12 in his two-year career so far.
The Rams are getting an incalculable upgrade by going from Verse to Garrett, and as we already knew, Snead doesn’t even care about having first-round picks. To him, L.A. simply traded Verse for Garrett, and who wouldn’t do that?
The L.A. Rams now have a defensive line like this:
OLB Myles Garrett (23 sacks last season)
DT Kobie Turner (24 sacks in 3 seasons)
DE Braden Fiske (11.5 sacks in 2 seasons)
OLB Byron Young (12.5 sacks last season)
Plus they’ve changed their two below-average cornerbacks for an All-Pro and a really good starter opposite of him.
Does this trade change your opinion about the Seahawks’ chances of winning the Super Bowl next season or did the Rams overpay?
Will Seahawks react and should they?
The thing that I value the most about John Schneider is that he doesn’t make moves out of fear. He doesn’t panic-trade or panic-draft or panic-sign free agents.
Seattle draws a line in the sand and then they cover it with cement.
Whatever their rivals decide to do, whether that’s the 49ers acquiring players like Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams, or this latest news that the Rams have added Garrett, that’s just “their business”. It doesn’t have to mean anything for what the Seahawks need to do next.
Let’s not forget: The Seahawks just won the Super Bowl. Not the Rams. They’re already the team that other teams are trying to catch up to.
There are also consequences to this move for L.A.:
Myles Garrett is a lot more expensive than Verse (the Browns reportedly calculated that the move saves them $30 million immediately)
Garrett is 5 years older than Verse
The Rams have used three first-round picks to upgrade their roster this year (Garrett, McDuffie, Simpson) but didn’t end up with a single rookie who will help them next season
Rookies are great for a number of reason, not the least of which is being a star who is maybe 22 or 23, costs relatively nothing, and could give the franchise a decade of help. The Seahawks know this from their experience of adding these players in the first round since 2022:
Cross, Devon Witherspoon, JSN, Byron Murphy, and Grey Zabel, not to mention near-first Nick Emmanwori.
By comparison, Verse was the only first-round pick the Rams had made since Jared Goff in 2016, and fittingly he’s already gone.
There is nothing the Seahawks can do or should do when it comes to how to block Garrett next season. Cross and Lucas are the team’s bookend tackles and that isn’t going to change. Brian Fleury’s assignment as a first-time offensive coordinator isn’t going to be any different than it was yesterday, he just has a few new details when it comes to game-planning against the Rams.
Garrett is what Garrett is, and that’s important. But Seattle was actually having a pretty hard time blocking Verse already. The difference is significant, but at least the Seahawks don’t have to block Verse and Garrett.
What trade could Seahawks make?
Talk of Seattle poking around on players like Maxx Crosby won’t stop, they’ll only increase from here on out because of this trade. However, I would not expect Schneider to immediately go out and trade a first-round pick to upgrade a position to compete with the Rams.
I did outline five potential Seahawks trade targets recently, perhaps the most interesting of which would be Quenton Nelson.
Knowing that DeMarcus Lawrence is returning and doesn’t have any plans to retire, there are no glaring problems on the roster except for maybe the one that Nelson would address. There are opportunities to try something that might make the Seahawks better, but why rush anything before there’s a time when Seattle might REALLY need a trade, like in case of an injury?
Yes, Myles Garrett is a great player.
The Seahawks have to remember … They’re a great franchise.
It makes sense for the Rams to go all in. Stafford can't have much time left in his career and their window is now. The compensation is less than I expected, but I'm fine with us not matching it (if he even wanted to play in Seattle).
Rams did pretty good in the trade. Giving up a 1st in 27, a 2nd in 28, and a 3rd in 29. Getting older. Losing draft capital in next year’s bell weather draft class.
I don’t think the Seahawks will react by trying to sign a big ticket player. I already think they are a 15 win team and will beat the Rams in Seattle in week 16. I had them losing to the Rams in week 18 before the trade, mainly because we will win the number one seed in week 16 with the win over the Rams. We’re a better team this year vs last year. Our 1st round pick this year will gain over 1000 yards rushing and make a huge difference. The Rams 1st round pick this year will get splinters sitting on the bench. Fleury will have this offense humming before too long and Barner and Saubert will chip Garrett while Cross and Lucas step up and give Darnold a chance to reach 4500+ yards this year and 30+ TDs.