There are some players any team should try to trade for, and Myles Garrett is certainly one of them.
The Cleveland Browns’ six-time Pro Bowl edge rusher and 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year formally requested a trade on Monday, setting the football world ablaze. He wants to play for a contender, and that’s what the San Francisco 49ers hope to be once more in 2025.
Though the 49ers went 6-11 in 2024, they were the defending NFC champions, so that has to resonate with Garrett. But the question is whether or not they are willing to part with the assets to trade for him, because with 31 other teams in the league, someone will be.
What will those assets be? One 49ers beat writer did his best to estimate the cost on Tuesday.
The Athletic’s NFL staff proposed hypothetical trades for 10 teams to land Garrett on Tuesday, and 49ers reporter Matt Barrows pitched a deal that would send Garrett to San Francisco for first-round picks in 2025 and 2026, plus kicker Jake Moody.
“Yes, trading away first-round picks means the 49ers can say goodbye to drafting Trent Williams’ replacement at left tackle or snagging one of the top defensive tackles in this year’s draft,” Barrows wrote.
“The 49ers also would have to weigh trading for an established edge rusher like Garrett against taking a young one — say, Georgia’s Mykel Williams — in April.”
Garrett has two years remaining on the five-year, $125 million extension he signed with Cleveland, carrying cap hits close to $20 million in both seasons. That’s excellent value for a player with 102.5 career sacks by age 29.
Would San Francisco mortgage its future by trading away multiple first-round picks for the second time in less than a decade? Garrett might be the player worth doing it for.
