It’s never been a very realistic discussion from the get-to, but the notion that the Detroit Lions could somehow swing a trade with the Cleveland Browns for superstar EDGE Myles Garrett has definitely been a major point of conversation. Ever since Garrett asked the Browns to trade him earlier this offseason, scenarios have flown around both fan bases.
After Lions GM Brad Holmes and his Cleveland counterpart, Andrew Berry, each spoke separately at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, even the faintest of hopes and dreams of Garrett in Detroit should be thrown in the recycle bin. Both GMs took any shred of hope that Lions fans might still harbor for acquiring Garrett and set them on fire.
Holmes didn’t address Garrett (or Las Vegas standout Maxx Crosby) directly, but his intent was clear when he gave this response to a question about locking up Detroit’s own superstar pass rusher, Aidan Hutchinson.
“Those guys are hard to acquire and it’s hard to keep them financially,” Holmes said. “Again, we have one that’s due for an extension and we’ve already kind of gotten to the planning stages about him already.
And so when you talk about adding another one, it’s like, ‘Well, all right, can you financially add another one?’ Because you want to add the other one on top of everything else that you have, and that makes it tough.”
The follow-up question was asked: Can the Lions add another premium talent after locking up Hutchinson?
“Probably not,” Holmes said.
Now to the Cleveland side…
Here’s what Berry said about the notion of trading Garrett during his podium time in Indianapolis,
“He is a huge part of our organization. He is a really good person and an awesome player. We understand the trade request and everything but our stance really has not changed. We cannot imagine a situation where not having Myles as a part of the organization is best for the Browns.”
It doesn’t get more clear-cut than that from Berry, who has always been a pretty open and candid GM about his thought processes. Trading Garrett would cost the Browns some $36 million in salary cap in 2025, making it all but financially impossible to move the four-time All-Pro even if the Browns intended on honoring Garrett’s trade request.
Berry also noted that NFL teams are not obligated to honor trade requests,
“Trade requests, they happen across the league all the time,” Berry said. “I think at times for individual players that they’ll have certain interests during different parts of their career, whether they’re a young player, veteran player, things like that. That’s not unusual. That’s not the first for us, probably won’t be the last … But we respect, appreciate Myles and, like I said, we’re not interested in moving him.”