It’s not often you see a future Hall of Famer trade in his prime, but that’s life when dealing with the Cleveland Browns. In a shocker of a trade, the Browns sent defensive end Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for three draft picks and Jared Verse. This comes off a year in which Myles Garrett broke the all-time single-season sack record in the NFL.
Obviously, this is a fantastic trade for the Rams, who are trying to maximize their Super Bowl window with reigning MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford. LA already had a solid defense, but adding Garrett into the mix makes them the immediate front-runners to win Super Bowl 61. As for Cleveland, this is another in a long line of “rebuilding” trades that forces the Browns faithful to look ahead rather than enjoy the present.
It’s also quite painful for Cleveland fans, considering the seemingly low value that Myles Garrett had. At first glance, the trade seems lopsided in the Rams’ favor, so we turned to Madden 26 to see whether it’s even possible in the virtual simulator.
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Does The Myles Garrett Trade Get Accepted In Madden 26?
For starters, let’s go over the exact trade terms agreed upon by LA and Cleveland:
Cleveland Browns
- EDGE Jared Verse
- 2027 1st-Round Pick
- 2028 2nd-Round Pick
- 2029 3rd-Round Pick
Los Angeles Rams
- EDGE Myles Garrett
For reference, it took more first-round picks for the Indianapolis Colts to land cornerback Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets during the 2025-26 NFL season. And, more recently, the New England Patriots sent a 2028 1st-rounder plus a 2027 fifth-rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles for wide receiver A.J. Brown.
The difference is that neither of those players is a Hall of Fame lock, nor did they break a long-standing NFL record last season. Of course, the Browns did manage to land a replacement for Garrett in Jared Verse, but Verse likely won’t come close to matching his predecessor’s production.
So, with that out of the way, how does Madden 26 handle this exact trade? Well, this might be the time to look away, Cleveland fans.
In the Madden 26 trade simulator, this trade is rejected with around a 65% interest level. One player even upped the ante and decided to throw in two first-round picks instead of the second and third-round picks that the Browns gave up in real life. The trade was still rejected.
Of course, if you’ve played any Madden game before, you know that trades work differently in the virtual world than they do in real life. Madden tends to severely undervalue draft picks in trade offers, forcing players to give up more overall roster value. The franchise is also notoriously stingy with trades in general, as most NFL blockbuster trades don’t go through in Madden’s simulator.
However, it’s interesting what the Browns say in Madden when you attempt to execute this trade. After the trade is rejected, the Browns tell you, “We don’t feel the offer brings enough value comparatively to what we’d be giving up.”
That certainly rings true with the real Myles Garrett trade, as the Browns do land a first-round pick in a loaded 2027 draft class, but it feels like an additional first-round pick would have been worth holding out for. This holds true even more when you look at some comparable NFL trades in recent years.
Also, while Jared Verse was a nice inclusion in the deal, Cleveland will hope to sign him to a long-term deal once his rookie contract ends in 2029. If they can’t and Verse ends up walking, this trade looks much worse for the Browns unless Verse suddenly turns in multiple 15+ sack seasons during his time in Cleveland. Even then, the Browns would have let another star edge rusher leave the building.
How Will Myles Garrett Fare As An LA Ram?
We’ve talked about Cleveland enough, so now let’s take a look at the other side of the trade.
Naturally, Myles Garrett is a top-five player in the NFL, and there’s an argument he’s the best player in the entire league. So, regardless of what the Rams gave up in this trade aside from Puka Nacua or Matthew Stafford, it was going to be a win for the organization. LA has also completely devalued first-round picks, having traded away the majority of them over the past decade.
On paper, the addition of Myles Garret turns the Rams from legitimate contenders to the betting favorite to win Super Bowl 61. They still have the reigning MVP, a top-five and top-20 receiver in the league, and also just traded for star cornerback Trent McDuffie. Not to mention, the Rams also have edge rusher Byron Young on the roster, who recorded 12 sacks of his own in 2025. Now that teams have to gameplan around Garrett, Young should be in for another breakout year in 2026.
As for Garrett, it’s highly doubtful he breaks the 20-sack mark again. However, if he can stay healthy and productive, he should be in for another 15-sack season while leading the Rams to at least the NFC Championship Game. Anything less than that, and the Rams have likely failed in a catastrophic way.
Published: Jun 2, 2026 03:30 pm