Perhaps Cleveland Browns edge-rusher Myles Garrett is the missing piece of the Detroit Lions’ Super Bowl puzzle.
In an interview with the “Dan Patrick Show,” Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer listed the Lions as his favorite landing spot for Garrett, who requested a trade on Monday.
“I mean, God, the idea of Myles Garrett lining up opposite Aidan Hutchinson. That, to me, is really intriguing,” Breer said Tuesday.
Garrett and Hutchinson would form one of the most fearsome pass-rushing tandems in the NFL.
Hutchinson has 28.5 sacks and has made one Pro Bowl in three seasons with the Lions. Garrett, meanwhile, has 102.5 sacks in eight seasons with the Browns and won the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year.
The Lions would have to unload high draft picks to land Garrett. The Athletic’s Jeff Howe recently polled 10 NFL personnel executives to gauge the pass-rusher’s value. All said the Browns would regain a first-rounder in a trade, and three said Cleveland could land multiple first-rounders.
However, the Lions don’t need to keep stockpiling draft picks.
“[The Lions] are in a spot now where they don’t need their first-round pick,” Breer said. “If you’re them, you could almost say, ‘We may only have five or six rookies make our team.'”
During the 2024 season, Hutchinson had 7.5 sacks in five games before fracturing his tibia/fibula in Week 6. The Lions acquired edge-rusher Za’Darius Smith from the Browns before the trade deadline passed, but he didn’t deliver in the playoffs.
In a 45-31 divisional-round home loss to the Washington Commanders, the Lions had no sacks, and Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels finished 22-of-31 passing for 299 yards and two TDs.
If the Lions had a player of Garrett’s caliber, they could have applied much more pressure on Daniels and avoided an early postseason exit.