Sean McVay didn’t hide from the reality of the Jared Verse-for-Myles Garrett blockbuster. He just framed it the way a coach would when a deal costs him a young cornerstone.
Appearing on the Daily Flock via the BIGPLAY Sports Network with Jason LaCanfora, McVay said the trade left both sides feeling good, even if it stung in Los Angeles because of what Verse had already become.
“Lot of respect on both sides, and I think both teams feel good about it even though it was challenging on our end because there’s a player that I have a lot of love and appreciation for what he’s done over these two years.
“But, you know what I told him is, ‘Sometimes to get something great, you got to give up something great,’ and that’s what that trade was reflective of.”
Verse was part of the package the Rams sent to Cleveland more than a month and a half ago, along with first-, second- and third-round picks in 2027, 2028 and 2029, in exchange for Garrett. The move came after Garrett fresh off a single sack season record for the Browns.
McVay’s line to Verse was the kind of thing you’d expect from a head coach trying to make sense of a painful transaction. But the trade itself tells the bigger story: the Rams and Browns both viewed Verse as a real piece of the deal, not a throw-in.
That matters because Verse is only 25 and already came into the league with Defensive Player of the Year honors just two seasons ago. He also would have remained under team control for years, with the optional fifth-year for first-rounders and then a franchise tag year potentially in play after that.
Still, the Rams chose to include him, and that says plenty about how they value Garrett. The gap between the two players was big enough that Los Angeles was willing to part with Verse and three high picks to land a pass rusher who commands Defensive Top-5 money.
It also explains why Cleveland’s Andrew Berry pushed for Verse to be in the deal, and why the Rams didn’t simply try to substitute another player or lean harder on picks. In the eyes of both teams, Garrett’s impact on the passing game goes beyond sacks, and that kind of disruption carries more weight than Verse’s age, contract situation, or upside.
Maybe McVay’s message to Verse should have been even simpler: sometimes you have to give up something great in order to get something greater.
And the final accounting on the trade still isn’t finished, because whatever Cleveland does with those picks has to be part of the balance sheet alongside Verse and Garrett.
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