Browns Clips
As the Rams worked through a trade for defensive end Myles Garrett, they didn’t have time to do a new contract. They now have.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Rams and Garrett have worked out a new deal. It’s a five-year deal covering 2026 through 2030, with available options through 2038. (The options are surely present for cap purposes.)
We’re in the process of tracking down the details. The key question is whether and to what extent the new-money APY will change. His latest deal set a new standard for non-quarterbacks, at $40 million per year. Since then, the bar has moved to $50 million.
The signing bonus is $35.7 million. The salary will be at least $1.3 million, pushing his minimum compensation package for 2026 to $37 million.
That exceeds the $31.5 million total compensation he was due to make under his prior deal by at least $5.5 million. (Of that amount, $1 million was in the form of per-game roster bonuses. The new deal possibly has per-game roster bonuses for 2026, too.)
The question is whether and to what extent the remaining guarantees were carried into the new deal. Apparently, the future guarantees have been reduced (if not eliminated).
Of course, the guarantees don’t really matter. After giving up Jared Verse, a first-, second-, and third-round pick to get Garrett, it’s not as if they’ll be cutting him after a year or two.
We’ll provide a full breakdown once we have the total numbers.
The second Verse is, for now, same as the first.
When Myles Garrett arrived as a new member of the Rams, he purchased No. 95 from defensive tackle Poona Ford. When Jared Verse arrived as a new member of the Browns, he had a different strategy regarding the number he wore with his former team.
He just took No. 8.
Verse was on the practice field, wearing his number of choice. It’s the number that had officially been issued in 2025 to quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who started six games as a rookie.
Although teams have some freedom to double up on jersey numbers during the 90-man portion of the calendar, it’s awkward to say the least to have Verse and Gabriel wearing the same number. Sufficiently awkward that the @FootballCravee account on Twitter (which has a habit of posting blatantly made-up quotes) was able to post a false quote from Gabriel that went somewhat viral on Wednesday because it seemed, on its face, to be semi-plausible.
At some point, Verse or Gabriel will officially have No. 8. Verse seems to be intent on wearing it. Given that Gabriel may not even be on the 53-man roster come Week 1, that could be a safe assumption.
Regardless, it’s a bold move from Verse. But why buy the number when you can just wear it? Make it not a financial transaction but a battle of wills.
The situation illustrates the bizarre nature of the entire culture of buying numbers. The team owns the numbers. The team can reclaim a number and reissue it, if it wants.
When there’s a clear disparity in a player’s current value to the team, why shouldn’t a team be willing to tell a guy who will be third string (at best) that he’s giving up his number to a new player who will be in the starting lineup?
Of course Verse is currently more important to the Browns than Gabriel. Why should Verse pay Gabriel for No. 8? Verse should get it, if he wants it.
On Wednesday, Verse took the first step toward making that happen. He showed up for practice wearing his number. It should be up to Gabriel and/or the Browns to make the transfer official, without Verse having to give Gabriel anything for it.
However it goes, the Browns need to make a fairly quick decision. Verse jerseys are already available for preorder. They can’t be printed and distributed until his number is official.
New Browns head coach Todd Monken did not get to meet Myles Garrett in person before the club traded him to the Rams earlier this week.
But Cleveland received Jared Verse as part of the deal, and the third-year edge rusher has already gotten to the building. That’s got Monken excited about the future.
“I mean, he’s gonna fit us like a glove,” Monken said in his Wednesday press conference, via transcript from the team.
“You wish you had unlimited time to meet with him and try to catch him up to speed. But just his willingness to get here, be here this morning to get into meetings and be on the practice field says a lot about him.”
Monken had to coach against Verse last year when he was Baltimore’s offensive coordinator.
“[H]e was one of those guys where you certainly had a game plan for and I think he’s only going to continue to ascend,” Monken said.
“[C]ertainly, his tape speaks for itself. I mean, being a Defensive Rookie of the Year and then a Pro Bowler. How many guys have done that? It’s a pretty elite group he’s in.”
Verse, 25, recorded 7.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and 27 quarterback hits to reach his second consecutive Pro Bowl in 2025. He also had a sack, three TFLs, and seven QB hits in three postseason games.
The Browns traded away the current defensive player of the year when they dealt Myles Garrett to the Rams earlier this week, but they emerged from the trade with the last two defensive rookies of the year.
Jared Verse won the prize in 2024 and linebacker Carson Schwesinger gave the 2025 Browns a pair of award winners on the defensive side of the ball. Verse has not been a member of the Browns for long, but the edge rusher knows enough about his new team to know that Schwesinger provides him with a comfortable security blanket.
“Man, that boy can fly,” Verse said, via a transcript from the team. “Nah, he can work. I like that a lot. I like knowing that behind me that I can . . . I don’t got much to worry about if something, you know, I can play freely because I don’t have to worry if something gets by me. He’s going to be able to handle that. He’s going to be able to clean everything up. So now that’s the exciting factor of it.”
The Browns did not win much with Garrett on the roster, but they usually had a strong defense. The presence of Schwesinger and others provides reason to believe that will continue to be the case and the hope is that the other assets that Cleveland acquired will lead to more victories while Verse is a member of the squad.
During his time with the Browns, Myles Garrett earned all the individual achievements a defensive end could have. Now he’s setting his sights on team goals.
After he was traded to the Rams, Garrett said on the team’s YouTube channel that he’s now in a place where he thinks he can win a Super Bowl.
“I’ve done pretty much everything I set out to do in Cleveland, I’d given my all and my everything, and I’m very fortunate for my time there,” Garrett said. “But it’s always been about winning and I want to win a championship and I’m happy to be part of a franchise that’s in a position to do that, and do that for years to come.”
Garrett said he was drawn to the Rams because he thinks head coach Sean McVay and General Manager Les Snead have built a team that can contend for years to come.
“It starts with Sean and Les making this an appealing destination,” Garrett said.
Garrett only made the playoffs twice while he was with the Browns, and never advanced past the divisional round. His expectations with the Rams are a lot higher than that.
The recent federal LM-2 filing from the NFL Players Association including a stunning revelation regarding Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders. In his first year in pro football, Shedeur earned $17.7 million in royalty payments.
In an interview with Front Office Sports, Colorado coach Deion Sanders (who also is Shedeur’s dad) addressed the record-setting number.
“I don’t know if people really dug into that,” Deion said, explaining that the payment wasn’t the result of jersey sales.
So if it wasn’t jersey sales, what drove the number?
“A tremendous deal with the NFLPA,” Deion said. “A tremendous deal.”
Deion previously mentioned “licensing” and “cards.” Some believe the number was largely driven by a trading-card deal negotiated before Shedeur fell to round five in the 2025 draft.
Regardless, Shedeur shattered Tom Brady’s prior one-year record of $9.5 million, establishing a new bar that will not be easy to catch.
Myles Garrett was so dominant last season that he earned all 50 first-place votes for Defensive Player of the Year. He also won the award in 2023, becoming one of only nine players to win multiple DPOY awards.
Only Aaron Donald, Watt and Lawrence Taylor have more with three each.
In nine seasons, Garrett has earned seven Pro Bowls, five first-team All-Pro honors, the single-season sacks record (23 in 2025) and 125.5 career sacks.
He is only 30, with a lot of career left as he embarks on a new chapter with the Rams.
Garrett wants more despite a near certainty that he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“I see a position to solidify myself here, as well, among the very greats,” Garrett said at his introductory news conference. “I still have plenty of great years in front of me and being able to cement that legacy, not only as a football city here in L.A., but as an individual and winning DPOY and a Super Bowl or more. Those things are definitely pressing on my mind, and I have a definite bit of urgency to do it and do it right away.”
A Super Bowl ring is the one thing missing from his resume, and Garrett should have chances to accomplish that.
In 2025, Myles Garrett set the single-season sack record. Not many (if any) of his 23.0 sacks happened when the 5-12 Browns had a multi-score lead in the second half of a game.
With the Rams, Garrett should have plenty of chances to chase quarterbacks who are desperate to move the ball through the air late in a losing effort.
“That did play into the decision as well,” Garrett told reporters on Tuesday. “Knowing I’ll have the ability late in games to pin my ears back, not just because we need a play to be made, but because we have the lead and it’s obvious passing downs. Being able to make plays to win the game for us, those are things that appeal to me and I’m sure appeal to all of us as D-linemen. That is something I really look forward to.”
It should happen. The Rams have a great offense. The defense should be better in 2026. They should be in position, on a somewhat regular basis, to let Garrett turn himself loose in an effort to chase (and possibly pass) the record he set last year, in his final stint with the Browns.
Deion Sanders is interested in meeting with Browns head coach Todd Monken to discuss ways to get the most out of his son and Monken is on board with the plan.
Sanders said recently that he wants to talk to Monken “as a coach, not a dad” about Shedeur Sanders as the quarterback moves into his second NFL season. On Wednesday, Monken told reporters that he’s ready to have that conversation whenever it works for the Colorado head coach.
“I can’t wait,” Monken said, via multiple reporters. “I’ve got a lot of respect for coach Sanders, obviously as a player but also what he’s done as a coach. He’s done a great job with Shedeur as a father. I’m open to any time he wants to meet. He said he was going to come but he had a commercial. If he just tells me where the next commercial shoot is, I’ll be there. I really am looking forward to it. I’ve got a ton of respect for him and I’ve got a ton of respect for Shedeur because all he’s done since I’ve been here is work.”
The younger Sanders closed out last season as the starter in Cleveland, but Deshaun Watson’s return to active duty has led to a competition for the job in 2026. While it remains to be seen if his father/college coach’s insights will come in time to help him win that battle, it sounds like Monken will be hearing them at some point in the near future.
When the Rams traded for Myles Garrett, they sent one of their top young players to Cleveland as part of the deal.
The 2024 AP defensive rookie of the year, Jared Verse had been making a name for himself in Los Angeles. But now that he’s no longer with the club, the Rams are offering fans a little bit of consolation.
The Rams announced on Wednesday that the club is offering a free exchange for recently purchased Verse jerseys.
The announcement notes that if you purchased a Verse jersey in person at the team’s draft party or official team store since the club launched its new uniforms in April, you’re eligible to exchange that jersey for another one of your choice.
Additionally, if you purchased any Verse jersey in the past 90 days from ramsfanshop.com, nflshop.com, or fanatics.com, that jersey may also be exchanged for free.
Visit the Rams website for additional details on the exchange process.
