Six-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Myles Garrett just requested that the Cleveland Browns trade him. The Browns swung big on trading for quarterback Deshaun Watson a few years ago and struck out in spectacular fashion. Garrett is now 29 years old and doesn’t turn 30 until December 29. He desperately wants to compete for a Super Bowl.

And the Browns are moving in the wrong direction.

Garrett is the best edge defender in football right now. And he’s cheap, although that most likely won’t be for long. The Bucs arguably have a need for a premier pass rusher off the edge. Could general manager Jason Licht and the Bucs find a way to trade for Myles?

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds looked into the Bucs possibly trading for Bengals Pro Bowl pass rusher Trey Hendrickson in a new Pewter Pulse video. Let’s take a look at what it would cost Tampa Bay to acquire Garrett.

The Draft Capital Required For The Bucs To Acquire Myles Garrett

Bucs LT Donovan Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

I’ve done extensive research on the value of draft picks. You can find the results of that research here. This was posted using 2024 salary cap numbers as a baseline. I project the 2025 salary cap to raise from $255.4 million to $275 million. So, we will need to add about 7.5% to the value of the picks from my article.

But let’s break this down.

Based on my valuations Myles Garrett’s on-field production is worth about $34 million per year. He’s still under contract for two more seasons. That’s a $68 million valuation. The Browns have him on a team-friendly deal where they only owe him $44,796,125 over that time period. That’s a $23,203,875 surplus value. Adding the two together gives a total value of $91,203,875.

Based on my draft pick value research, the Bucs’ 2025 first-round pick, No. 19 overall, is worth $56.94 million. That still leaves about $34.25 million in value of difference. With just six picks in the 2025 NFL Draft I doubt general manager Jason Licht would want to give up more capital from this year’s draft. Moving to 2026, teams tend to discount value by a round to account for the time factor. So, a 2026 first-rounder is valued like a 2025 second-rounder and so on, and so forth.

If Cleveland and Tampa Bay were to agree that the Bucs are likely to pick between No. 19 and No. 32 next year if this trade goes through, then we can look at picks 51-64 for a range of value on that 2026 first-rounder. The range of values is between $31.57 million and $36.31 million. Add that range to the finite value of the No. 19 overall pick in 2025 and you get a value range of $88.51-93.25 million. Garrett’s value is right in the sweet spot of that range.

Myles Garrett’s Contract

Myles Garrett’s whole premise for requesting the trade is that he wants to compete for titles. And perhaps he means it so much that he is willing to continue to play on his below-market deal. But at 29 years old this is his last best chance at a big bite at the apple of a large contract.

Depending on the timing of these moves as they relate to the contract negotiations of Ja’Marr Chase with the Bengals and Micah Parsons with the Cowboys, Garrett could rightfully ask for an extension that would be worth $40 million per year. As an extension I would bet it would be for three years. Here’s a breakdown of how it would look like to the Bucs if he were to be acquired and get a new contract.

This is no small investment. Garrett is an aging player with nagging injury concerns. He will cost the Bucs two first-round picks and around $94 million in guaranteed money. But he is also a transformative player who could vault the Bucs’ defensive line into the upper echelons of the NFL.

Garrett, Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey and Yaya Diaby could legitimately form the best pass rush in the league. It would also allow head coach Todd Bowles to blitz from a place of creativity rather than necessity and allow him to ask less of his back seven in pass coverage.

Garrett changes the entire equation in Tampa Bay. But the equation in terms of cost is fairly simple. Would the Bucs be willing to sink such a large investment into the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year? Only time will tell – and they won’t be the only team interested in acquiring Garrett, either.