The NFC West didn’t need to get scarier. It did anyway.
When the Rams pried Myles Garrett away from Cleveland — two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year, seven Pro Bowls, the most terrifying edge rusher in football — they didn’t just solve their own problem. They sent a message to every team trying to compete in this conference and in this league: the gap between contenders and rebuilders is widening, and no one is waiting for you to catch up.
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Bombshell: The Browns are finalizing a trade that will send two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams, per @rapsheet, @TomPelissero and me.
In exchange for Garrett, the Rams are expected to send Pro-Bowl edge Jared Verse, a 2027… pic.twitter.com/vHVquJBcYl
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 1, 2026
The trade details, per ESPN: LA sent Jared Verse — a 25-year-old edge rusher with 12 sacks and 22 TFL across his first two seasons — plus a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second, and a 2029 third to Cleveland. In return, they inherited Garrett at a cap number that looks like a glitch. His hit against LA’s books: $8.1M in 2026, $16.1M in 2027, $21.4M in 2028. That’s roughly $15 million per year below current market rate for a top-end edge. Per Pro Football Rumors, the Rams aren’t adjusting the deal. Why would they?
So the Rams now have the reigning MVP and the reigning DPOY on the same roster. First team to pull that off since the 1970 merger. That’s not a depth chart. That’s a problem.
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None of this directly affects the AFC West. The Rams play in the NFC. The Raiders don’t face them in the regular season. But if you’re a Raiders fan staring at this news and thinking “not our conference, not our problem” — stop.
The arms race is real. The conference doesn’t stop while Las Vegas rebuilds.
Flip over to the AFC West and tell me what you see. The Broncos went 14-3 last year, earned the AFC’s No. 1 seed, made the conference championship, and then turned around and traded for Jaylen Waddle to make the offense even more dangerous. The Chargers quietly upgraded their offensive line and hired Mike McDaniel as OC. The Chiefs went 6-11 in 2025 and responded by signing Kenneth Walker III and moving up to draft a cornerback at No. 6 overall. Kansas City retools when it loses. It doesn’t stay down.
THE RAIDERS, MEANWHILE, ARE IN YEAR ZERO.
Call it what you want, but Year Zero can be exciting. Fernando Mendoza — confirmed No. 1 pick, Heisman winner, 41 TDs, 72% completion rate, led Indiana to a 16-0 national championship — is the real thing. Klint Kubiak is the right coach. Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty give Mendoza weapons to work with. This rebuild has a real foundation.
But rebuilds take time the division isn’t going to give them.
The Maxx Crosby situation is its own subplot. The Raiders had a deal in place to send Crosby to Baltimore — No. 14 overall and a future first for their best defensive player. The Ravens backed out when Crosby failed his physical, citing a degenerative knee issue. Crosby described the whole ordeal as one of the most “up-and-down roller coasters” of his life. He’s still in Las Vegas, paired with Kwity Paye (3 years, $48M from the Colts) in a new 3-4 base under DC Rob Leonard.
Crosby is still elite when healthy. But “when healthy” is a real qualifier now, and pass rush depth in a division trending toward dangerous offenses is not a place to have question marks.
The Khalil Mack parallel is almost too on the nose. The Raiders traded their generational edge rusher to Chicago in 2018. The Bears had a top-five defense that year. Oakland finished 4-12. The Rams aren’t in the AFC West — but the lesson the Raiders should take from this Garrett trade is the same one they should have already internalized: you cannot afford to be passive while the league’s best teams get better.
The AFC West isn’t waiting on the Mendoza era to arrive. It’s already moving.
