The Buffalo Bills defense was tied for 18th in the NFL with 39 sacks last year. Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett is the only player to record at least 10 sacks in each of the last seven seasons.
Garrett, 29, requested a trade last month and said he wants to join a Super Bowl contender. Buffalo has been rumored as a potential trade destination.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano wrote Sunday he expects the Bills to be “aggressive” in their pursuit of Garrett.
What would the Bills have to give up? And can they afford Garrett?
Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic and Jarrett Bailey of The Sporting News have each proposed trade details for a Bills and Browns deal. Both involve Buffalo giving up two first round picks.
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Garrett, who has two years remaining on a five-year, $125 million contract extension he signed with Cleveland, has a base salary of $1.255 million for 2025 along with an $18.5 million roster bonus. The roster bonus can be prorated over five years ($3.7 million per year), lowering his 2025 cap hit to $4.955 million. A trade for Garrett would likely be coupled with a contract extension.
Garrett is a a six-time Pro Bowl selection and four-time first-team All-Pro. He was the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year.
Garrett is second in the league with 102.5 sacks since he entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick in 2017. He became the youngest player in NFL history to reach 100 career sacks in 2024. Garrett is the only player to have at least 14 sacks in four consecutive seasons.
Trades can become official on March 12.
Here are the proposed trade details for the Bills to land Garrett from The Athletic and The Sporting News.
With his 14th sack of the season, @Flash_Garrett becomes the ONLY NFL player in history to have had 4 consecutive seasons with 14+ sacks đ€đ„
2024: 14
2023: 14
2022: 16
2021: 16 pic.twitter.com/SQd7Ziwnc3— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2024
The Athletic
Buffalo receives: DE Myles Garrett, 2026 5th round pick, 2027 7th round pick
Cleveland receives: DE A.J. Epenesa, 2025 1st round pick (No. 30 overall), 2026 1st round pick, 2027 4th round pick
“Moving Epenesa clears out $3.3 million on the cap to help the move, but the necessary next step is to immediately restructure Garrett’s deal to create more short-term cap space. His 2025 cap hit is $19.8 million, and converting most of it to a prorated signing bonus would save $14.8 million. The Bills then get the immediate flexibility to add more pieces to the team and the time to negotiate a long-term deal with their new star pass rusher.”
– Joe Buscaglia
The Sporting News
Buffalo receives: DE Myles Garrett
Cleveland receives: 2025 1st round pick (No. 30 overall), 2025 2nd round pick (No. 62 overall), 2026 1st round pick
“Everyone has pegged the Bills as the landing spot that makes the most sense for a Myles Garrett trade. Andrew Berry said during his NFL Combine press conference that the team has no interest in trading Garrett, but Garrett himself has made it known that he is not signing any sort of extension with the Browns. No one the Bills take with either of the three picks they would trade is as talented or impactful as Garrett – they should do whatever it takes to get him.“