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Myles Garrett Is a Ram. The NFC West Changed Overnight.
The reigning Defensive Player of the Year now plays in our division. The Browns traded Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, and the price tells you how serious Les Snead is: Cleveland got back two-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick. Snead emptied the draft drawer for a 30-year-old pass rusher, and given the Rams’ history of trading picks like they’re expired coupons, nobody in Los Angeles is losing sleep over it.
3 picks
A 2027 first, a 2028 second, and a 2029 third — plus Jared Verse — is what the Rams shipped to Cleveland for Garrett.
Let’s be clear-eyed about what this is. Garrett broke the single-season sack record last year and won his second straight DPOY. He is, on tape, the best defensive player in football. The Rams went to the NFC Championship four months ago, lost it to us, and decided the answer was to add the scariest individual defender alive. That’s not a tweak. That’s a statement aimed directly at the team holding the trophy.
You’ll remember Schneider made his own call to Cleveland about Garrett earlier this offseason. The Browns said no to him too. The difference is Snead was willing to gut his future to get to yes, and now Seattle gets to see Garrett twice a year instead of never. SI on Seahawks already slapped the ‘NFC West underdogs’ label on Seattle this morning, which is a wild sentence to type about a defending Super Bowl champion, but here we are.
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Schneider called Cleveland about Garrett too. The Browns said no to him. Snead was just willing to gut his future to get to yes.
Here’s the part that actually matters for Seattle, though: this doesn’t make the Seahawks worse. The roster that won it all is almost entirely intact. What it does is raise the temperature on every conversation we’ve been having all spring. The edge room that lost Boye Mafe and patched the hole with 31-year-old Dante Fowler now has to win games against an offensive line trying to keep Garrett off Sam Darnold. And the Devon Witherspoon extension, already grinding slowly, just got a fresh reminder of why elite defenders are worth every dollar.
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Contract Watch
Garrett’s Price Tag Just Made the Witherspoon Case for You
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The Witherspoon talks remain stuck. The Seahawks made an initial offer weeks ago and the two sides are not close, per ESPN’s Brady Henderson. Witherspoon shares an agent with Patriots corner Christian Gonzalez through WIN, and both camps seem content to let the other blink first. The good news, as it’s been all spring, is that he keeps showing up to voluntary work anyway. The bad news is that the market keeps moving while the paperwork sits.
None of this means Witherspoon gets done tomorrow. Albert Breer still expects it before training camp, and Seattle has historically closed these in July. But watching the Rams mortgage three drafts for a pass rusher is a useful reminder of what scarcity costs. Witherspoon is a 25-year-old lockdown corner who already has a Super Bowl ring. The longer he sits unsigned, the more expensive everyone else makes him.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Budget-friendly single-game tickets at or below league average drop today at 10 a.m. PT, four per game. Translation: your one shot to watch the Patriots get their banner-raising welcome without taking out a second mortgage on the condo. Seahawks.com
OTAs roll on at the VMAC, with sessions left before mandatory minicamp June 9-11. After Monday’s news from down south, expect every Seahawk who can lift a weight to keep treating ‘voluntary’ like a court order. Seattle Sports
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
They went all in. The Rams traded Jared Verse, a 2027 first, a 2028 second, and a 2029 third to land Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. It’s a genuinely terrifying move and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But this is also the franchise that handed away first-rounders for years and called it a philosophy. Garrett turns 31 this season, the picks are gone, and the window is now a very specific shape. Enjoy him while the math still works, LA.
NINERS
While the Rams were getting Garrett, the 49ers were holding OTAs without Trent Williams, who Kyle Shanahan once again insists will turn up ‘next week.’ Mike Evans skipped the session too. The cruel timing: Williams now reacts to the news that he has to block Myles Garrett twice a year, on a left tackle who can’t be bothered to show up to voluntary work in June. The deepest O-line of the Shanahan era is going to get tested early.
CARDINALS
The big Josh Sweat trade everyone penciled in for today just deflated. Packers insider Matt Schneidman shot down the Green Bay buzz, posting it’s ‘not a thing at this point.’ So Arizona’s disgruntled edge rusher, who led the team with 12.5 sacks and is sitting out voluntary work, stays put for now while the post-June-1 savings window mocks them from the calendar. The garage sale opened and nobody came to the driveway.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Which Seahawks defensive tackle won NFL Defensive Player of the Year while his team finished 2-14, and how many sacks did he record that season?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Cortez Kennedy, in 1992. He posted 14 sacks for a team that won just two games — one of the most dominant individual seasons ever wasted on a terrible roster. He finished with 58 career sacks and reached the Hall of Fame in 2012.
Got a Question for The Rooster?
Trade panic, cap math, or a take you need validated at 6 a.m.? Send it in. The best questions land in the Mailbag, and yes, I read every one between cups of coffee.
The Rams got scarier. We still have the trophy. Let them chase it. — The Rooster