Garrett said Monday he wants to play elsewhere than with the treading-water Browns organization. The comments came in a statement obtained by NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, according to nfl.com.

“As a kid dreaming of the NFL, all I focused on was the ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl — and that goal fuels me today more than ever,” Garrett wrote. “My love for the community of Northeast Ohio and the incredible fanbase of the Cleveland Browns has made this one of the toughest decisions of my life. These past eight years have shaped me into the man that I am today.

“While I’ve loved calling this city my home, my desire to win and compete on the biggest stages won’t allow me to be complacent. The goal was never to go from Cleveland to Canton, it has always been to compete for and win a Super Bowl. With that in mind, I have requested to be traded from the Cleveland Browns.”

Browns DE Myles Garrett would fit with 49ers

Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Just imagine the terror of NFL offenses having to game plan to face Nick Bosa on one end and Garrett on the other. Every pass play would be an adventure in trying to protect the quarterback.

Of course, the 49ers will have to come up with the right trade. They can’t afford to fall into the trap like the Vikings did back in the day when they set up the Cowboys’ early 1990s Super Bowl by unloading too many draft picks to acquire Herschel Walker.

So the 49ers’ perfect offer should include two first-round picks while getting at least a third-round and fifth-round pick in return. Preferably both of those return picks should be for the 2025 NFL Draft.

From a public standpoint, the Browns said they do not have interest in trading Garrett, according to clevelandbrowns.com

General Manager Andrew Berry said it’s cut and dried. When asked, specifically, “If someone sees you at dinner tonight and says, ‘We’ll give you two ones for Myles do you say I’m not interested?’ ”

Berry said, “Correct. You can put that on the record. “We feel really good about Myles obviously as a big piece of our future. We’re looking forward to him being on the field. Like I said in my (early January) press conference, we envision him going from Cleveland to Canton when his career is over.”

So either Garrett is going nowhere, or the Browns are trying to get even more than two No. 1 picks for him.

And when a potential Super Bowl is hanging in the balance, sometimes teams go the extra mile. The question is whether the Browns’ star puts the 49ers over the top. And the answer seems to be yes with one caveat. The 49ers have to stay healthy.

How far could 49ers go by adding Myles Garrett?

If San Francisco has a full complement of offensive stars available for most of the regular season and into the playoffs, having Garrett on the defensive side of the ball makes them a strong favorite to win the Super Bowl in 2025.

Also, since the 49ers would finish low in the draft order over the next couple of seasons, trading two first-round picks wouldn’t be much different than a team trading a pair of high second-round picks. And it’s hard to get star players at the end of the first round. Not impossible. But more difficult.

With the eighth-most cap space in the league at $48.3 million, the 49ers could lock Garrett up for multiple years. They would have no concern about their pass rush for years to come.

However, they also have to consider signing some of their own free agents. Included in that mix are defensive standouts in linebacker Dre Greenlaw and cornerback Charvarius Ward.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan has already shown he can be flexible about the defensive approach. He said he’s open to changing the team’s scheme even before Garrett’s name popped up, according to Sports Illustrated.

“I love the scheme that we’ve had here,” Shanahan said. “I think it’s one of the hardest things to go to when you’ve got the right guys in the right spots. But, I do think people adjust to schemes, and I think you have to adjust too depending on your personnel. And I think that was a tougher thing for us this year

“Just going into the season, it was a little bit harder than past seasons and some of the injuries we had, I think, made it really tough for Nick. And I thought he got better trying to adjust and do different things. But I do think that’s something that definitely, I’m not saying you’ve got to change schemes. But you have to have the ability, the history and the knowledge of how to change some stuff up when you’re in some certain situations. And I think that we do need that more going forward.”