Myles Garrett trade grades: Why Browns were smart to part with DPOY now as Rams go all in for Super Bowl

Myles Garrett, the reigning three-time Sporting News NFL Defensive Player of the Year, will be trying to make it four in a row with the Rams, not the Browns.

Cleveland is trading its superstar edge pass rusher to Los Angeles to finally help accelerate its rebuild. Meanwhile, L.A. is going all in to win its first Super Bowl in five years, when it was anchored by another DPOY up front, Aaron Donald.

Garrett, who turned 30, is in his prime and wasn't going to win a Super Bowl by finishing his career with the Browns. The Rams give him a real shot of stamping his dominant pass-rushing and run-stopping career with a championship.

Meanwhile, the Browns move a hefty contract off their books to give themselves a lot more financial flexibility as they are set up to see through a real roster reconstruction. They also got an immediate Garrett replacement to boot.

Here's assessing the deal from both the Browns and Rams' perspectives:

MORE: What we know about Myles Garrett trade details

Myles Garrett trade grades

Rams receive:

• EDGE Myles Garrett

Browns receive:

• EDGE Jared Verse
• 2027 first-round draft pick
• 2028 2nd-round draft pick
• 2029 3rd-round draft pick

Rams grade: B

The Rams are hoping Garrett can be transcendent to lead them to a second Super Bowl ring under Sean McVay. With reigning MVP Matthew Stafford back at quarterback, the goal will be winning a ring, or the season will mean not much of a thing after the division rival Seahawks just lifted the Lombardi Trophy.

The Rams won Super Bowl 56 thanks in large part to Donald's dominance being backed up with some good front seven talent, led by star corner Jalen Ramsey. Likewise, they were aggressive, trading for top Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie to shore up their big weakness in cornerback coverage and now support that by getting Garrett to terrorize quarterbacks.

The question is, can Garrett make them that much better given it might come down to offense in the loaded NFC playoffs. The team gave up a rising young disruptor in Verse. Verse and Byron Young were revving up the defense, flying off the edge. There's no doubt Garrett is an upgrade, but for the deal to pay off, he needs to be nothing short of spectacular in leading the defense to some Seattle-like devastation.

The Rams are realizing this is the window to strike because neither Stafford nor McVay are guaranteed to be there for much longer. It just might have been too expensive overall and unnecessary because Garrett still doesn't guarantee they will blow through the Seahawks and all the other NFC contenders when it counts most in the playoffs. They also might have been able to do that with the previous current defense featuring Verse.

MORE: How Myles Garrett trade package compares to other massive deals for edge rushers

Browns grade: A+

The Browns may anger some by moving their one great player, but savvy fans know it doesn't mean much to have Garrett when their defensive results aren't yielding big winning returns. Cleveland should be ecstatic it got Verse to reset the pass rush on top of the massive draft pick compensation. The cap relief from Garrett going is huge in itself, getting $8 million immediately and a way out of being stuck with too much dead money.

Forget the popular move: The Browns made the necessary one and found the right partner to help get their organization back on track. They took their only chance to move Garrett once he turned 30, with the team willing to take on his contract.

Verse is still developing with some DPOY potential of his own. Now it's up to GM Andrew Berry to follow this up with smart near-future drafting, led by a real franchise QB. The bottom line: the Browns hitting rock bottom and getting the top pick to land Arch Manning is the faster way to win again than sticking with Garrett just to make them relevant on the map of bad teams.