Myles Garrett trade request: Could Detroit Lions get involved?

Myles Garrett has requested a trade. Do the Detroit Lions have a realistic shot of getting involved?

Myles Garrett went public on Monday morning, officially requesting for a trade from the Cleveland Browns after eight seasons with the team that drafted him first overall in 2017. It’s not often that a player of Garrett’s skill becomes available. He’s a four-time All Pro, earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2023, and has produced seven straight seasons of 10+ sacks.

With the Detroit Lions so close to being a Super Bowl contender and a glaring need at defensive end moving forward, it’s only natural for Lions fans to be screaming at the top of their lungs to get a deal done. But is it realistic? Would general manager Brad Holmes do it? Let’s break it down.

Will Myles Garrett actually be traded?

That is very much to be determined. Browns GM Andrew Berry told media as recently as last week that he was not going to field calls from people seeking a trade for Garrett. Per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, that stance has not changed in light of Garrett’s public request.

Something has to give here, and while it could certainly be Berry—and it may make sense to do a franchise-rebooting move like this a la Matthew Stafford and the Lions in 2021—more often than not it’s the players who eventually are forced to back down. We shall see.

What would it cost to trade for Myles Garrett?

No one knows for sure, as it’s extremely rare for a pass rusher of Garrett’s caliber to be available particularly in the prime of his career—he turned 29 in December. The general consensus is that it would likely cost two first-round picks, maybe more, maybe less. The closest thing to historical context would be the 2018 trade of Khalil Mack. The Bears gave up two first-round picks, a third-round pic, and a sixth-round pick to acquire Mack, who was 27 at the time.

The main difference between those trades is that Mack only had four years under his belt at that point and was on the final year of his rookie contract. Garrett has played eight seasons and has two more remaining years on his contract. So it’s realistic to think the Browns won’t get quite that kind of haul, but it should still be massive.

What about cap hits for his contract

As far as the contract a trading team would inherit with Garrett, it would be expensive, but manageable:

Cap hits of $20 million and $25 million in 2025 and 2026 would rank approximately 10th and eighth at the position, respectively.

The question is whether Garrett would require an extension. If his goals are simply to win a Super Bowl, as he claims, it’s possible he would agree to a landing spot without a new contract. However, I think teams should be preparing to potentially hand him a new deal that would cost at least $35 million a year—as Nick Bosa got a $34 million a year contract in 2023.

Detroit is currently slated to have around $45-50 million in cap space this offseason, but estimates have them at only around $22 million for 2026, as the cap hits for Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, and Alim McNeill skyrocket that year.

Why the Lions may actually do this

The Lions are close. That’s indisputable. Had injuries not devastated their defensive roster, there’s a decent chance they’d be playing in the Super Bowl this weekend. Garrett gives their defense a boost to enter 2025 not only with one of the most talented defensive fronts—joining Aidan Hutchinson and McNeill—but you’d have to think they’d go right back to being Super Bowl favorites.

While Brad Holmes has yet to make a huge splash via trade, he did trade away a third-round pick on two separate occasions to fill a need, grabbing cornerback Carlton Davis in the offseason and Za’Darius Smith at the trade deadline. With Detroit closer than ever, it’s certainly possible Holmes changes his strategy and inches closer to the “Eff Them Picks” strategy of his mentor Les Snead.

With more contracts to pay down the line, it’s reasonable to wonder if Detroit has a limited window of competition, and acquiring Garrett would be a huge sign Holmes is serious about not just contending for a Super Bowl, but finally bringing one to Detroit.

Why the Lions probably won’t

Well, if you listen to anything Holmes has said in the past few years, it’s hard to imagine him going all in on Garrett. Just a couple weeks ago, Holmes rejected the notion of the team’s Super Bowl window closing, and said his roster building strategy remains unchanged.

“Well if it’s the right veteran player that can help us and it’s the right fit, then we have no problem doing it if it’s going to help our football team, but we’ve always said that we’re going to build through the draft, and I think that’s why we are in the position that we are in from a ‘window standpoint’ of having the comfort to keep building like we have been,” Holmes said.

And, think about it. With all of these contracts coming due for Holmes’s stellar drafting through four years, the only way the Lions maintain success and competitiveness is if they counteract those expensive in-house deals with young, talented players via the draft. If you take two first-round picks out of Holmes’ chamber, you almost guarantee the Lions can’t be competitive three, four years down the line. For many of you, I understand that doesn’t matter: you want the Lombardi now. But Holmes has publicly said multiple times that the goal is sustained success.

The Lions historically have also rejected the notion of being “one player away.” And 2024 is a shining example of why the Lions may be right. You can muster all the talent you want, but all it takes is an injury (or two or three or four…) and that “one player away” mentality fails.

“I think you’ve got to be careful with the ‘one player away,’” coach Dan Campbell said in November. “I don’t think that exists necessarily. Now, can it help, and can it balance things out everywhere else? Absolutely, it can. But you do the ‘one player away’ and then all of a sudden, the one player away got hurt and you’re like, ‘Oh, well, shoot.’”

Beyond that, with Detroit’s limited cap space in 2026 and beyond, adding Garrett would jeopardize the Lions’ strategy of draft, develop, and re-sign. The salary cap will tighten with the likes of Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta, and Brian Branch all potentially seeking contract extensions in the next year or two. While Holmes could kick those cap hits down the line three or four years into the future, eventually it all comes due.

Conclusion

I’m a firm believer in “never say never,” particularly just days removed from one of the most shocking trades in sports.

That said, I do think a trade like this would be very counter to how the Lions have operated, and how Holmes has publicly described his roster-building strategy. And with the market for Garrett likely being astronomical, I wouldn’t expect Detroit to get in on any sort of deal. It’s going to cost them, and cost them a ton.

That may keep them at a championship level right away, but they’d have trouble filling out depth roles, it would make it a lot harder to extend their own players over the next two years, and perhaps most devastatingly, it would take away at least two of Detroit’s biggest assets for 2025 and beyond: Brad Holmes first-round picks.