The Steel Beat

As a Steelers fan, we look to the team 90 minutes to the northwest of Pittsburgh as somewhat of a joke. 

The Browns are the team with nothing on their helmets. They have a Keebler elf as a logo. Their fans bark. They are building a new stadium that looks like a cross between a Cyber Truck and a Wal-Mart. 

The Browns are the team that not only gave $240m guaranteed to Deshaun Watson, but also traded 3 1st rounders for him, fresh off of months of accusations of inappropriate sexual contact with countless women. 

The Fumble. 

The Drive.

The Mistake by the Lake.

(They are also a team that has won a playoff game more recently than the Steelers have….)

So, when the news broke on Monday that the same Browns franchise was trading the best defensive player in the game to the Rams, everyone’s immediate thought went to “Browns doing Browns stuff again”.

And yes, it’s tough to give up that talent. Garrett is a surefire Hall of Famer. First Ballot. Top 5 DE of all time. No doubt to any of that. 

But let’s take a look at what the Browns got back in return.

• 2027 1st round pick
• 2028 2nd round pick
• 2029 3rd round pick
• Edge Jared Verse

The 2 items to focus obviously are the 1st rounder and Verse.

Next year’s draft is going to be deep. Tons of talent at the top, which pushes good talent further down the draft, probably to where the Rams pick will be. 

The Browns now have flexibility to move up if they see a franchise QB that they want to target. Or, if they are as bad as they have been as of late, their own pick may be high enough to get one of the expected highly touted QBs in the 2027 draft.

Jared Verse isn’t Myles Garrett, but he’s a top 10 (and rising) Edge rusher who is also cheaper and 5 years younger than Garrett. He wrecks games. Plays the run very well. 

The Browns thought so much of Verse that they only began to consider trading Garrett once the Rams floated the idea of possibly moving Verse. 

He’s that good. 

Combine this with a really good draft in 2025, where the Browns drafted the Defensive Rookie of the Year, a very good DT in Graham, a potential franchise TE in Fannin and 2 good, young RBs in Judkins and Sampson. 

Their ‘26 draft got rave reviews as well. Grabbing the best OT in the draft, the best slot WR in the draft in Concepcion and a big target WR in Boston. 

The elephant in the room with the Browns is their QB situation. But Watson’s Titanic of a contract comes off their books after this season and as mentioned above, they have ample ammunition to get their franchise QB in the ‘27 draft. They also have bridge QBs in Sanders and Gabriel so the rookie doesn’t necessarily have to start right away.

The Browns have been a laughing stock of the NFL for quite some time now. But don’t be fooled by them trading away Garrett. Good teams know when to look at their roster, know they aren’t going to compete and sell off valuable assets at their highest value. Exactly what the Browns did in this trade.