The main transaction window of the 2026 NFL offseason is over, with free agency and the draft long behind us. But teams are still leaning on trades to improve their rosters between now and Week 1. And we’re grading the biggest swaps around the league, putting each deal into perspective for teams.
The post-June 1 deals started with a bang. The Browns are trading edge rusher Myles Garrett to the Rams for multiple draft picks — including a 2027 first-rounder — and edge rusher Jared Verse. The Patriots finally made their move to bring in Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown, giving up two draft picks. Did the Rams overpay in a massive return for Cleveland? Does Brown complete New England’s offense?
To determine each grade, I am looking at multiple factors, including on-field impact, salary cap implications, compensation, player value/age and the context of a team’s short- and long-term outlooks. How large is the effect of this decision, and how sure are we that it’s a good or bad choice? How does this affect a team’s chance to win the Super Bowl, this season or in the future?
Let’s get into our grades, and check back throughout training camp and the preseason for more trade evaluations.
See more:
Tracking trades over the summer
Grades from earlier in the offseason
Date: June 1
Patriots get: WR A.J. Brown
Eagles get: 2027 fifth-round pick, 2028 first-round pick
Patriots grade: B-
Eagles grade: A-
The inevitable trade finally happened: Brown is headed to the Patriots. With the Eagles and Brown long headed for a split, the wide receiver is reuniting with his old head coach, Mike Vrabel. The hope is clear that Brown can augment an already-strong passing offense with Drake Maye at the helm to give New England a good shot to get back to the Super Bowl.
I have long been bullish on Brown relative to consensus. Even though he’s widely been considered one of the better NFL receivers over the past six seasons, I’ve always believed that evaluation still underrated his skill.
Brown has only surpassed 1,100 receiving yards twice in his career (2022 and 2023) — though both times he nearly reached 1,500 yards. Of course, it’s important to consider that he’s almost exclusively caught passes from Ryan Tannehill and Jalen Hurts. That’s not the worst combination, but it’s not the best, either. Maye will undoubtedly be the best quarterback Brown has played with in the NFL.
And looking at Brown’s performance on a per route basis tells a different story. Over the past six years — starting with his second season in the league — Brown ranks second in yards per route run (2.7) behind Puka Nacua. He has three of the top 20 individual seasons in the metric, too. And even that might not fully capture the degree of his ability.
Brown once hung a sign that said “Always Open” at his locker. And according to ESPN’s open score — which measures a receiver’s ability to get open on all routes, regardless of target, relative to expectations — that was an accurate description. Brown recorded a 99 open score in 2021, first in the league and the highest possible score. That kicked off a four-year streak of him finishing at least in the top five in the metric, including a tie for first place in 2024. Brown was so consistent at getting open that we used him as our prime example when explaining how open score works.
But Brown is coming off a down year. He managed just 1,003 receiving yards over 15 games with the Eagles, and became publicly rankled at the offense as his production dropped in the middle of the year. Still, he ended up with a strong 2.3 yards per route run at the end of the season. His open score dipped to a 76 — his lowest since 2020 but still in the top 10.
Ultimately, the question that both the Patriots and Eagles surely asked themselves ahead of this trade: How much of Brown’s production drop was related to his own declining skills (he’ll turn 29 later this month) versus Hurts and the Eagles offense? My hunch is that the latter is more to blame.
Brown fills a clear and important need in New England. This is a team with Super Bowl aspirations that, prior to this deal, was rocking Romeo Doubs and Kayshon Boutte at the top of its depth chart. There are reasons to like each of those receivers, but that was going to be a group the Patriots were going to need to win despite of, not because of.
New England should be aiming for a return to the Super Bowl, but this deal should not be thought of as a title favorite adding the final piece to put it over the top. When ESPN’s Football Power Index comes out later this week, it will have the Patriots as the 12th-best team in the league entering 2026. They can certainly get back to the Super Bowl again, but they are farther away than the average defending conference champion.
Brown is due $28.75 million in 2026, $21 million in 2027 and $32 million in 2028. Much of the evaluation of this deal hinges on whether those numbers remain. If Brown’s contract remains untouched, that makes him a value relative to the market. He could also play under the current deal this year and demand a renegotiation prior to the dip of his compensation in 2027. The grade above reflects the current contract; I may adjust if there is an immediate change to the deal.
For the Eagles, this is a solid result considering the team and player had pretty clearly reached the end of their time together. They are worse at receiver without Brown than they were with him. But the team had been preparing for this trade: It drafted Makai Lemon in the first round of this year’s draft and traded for Dontayvion Wicks. With DeVonta Smith ascending into the clear WR1 role, the Eagles are still OK here.
Using the offseason to get younger at wide receiver and then flip a veteran for a first-round pick is good team-building practice. And that future first-round pick is significant compensation for Brown given his age and down-year in 2025.
Even though the Patriots were in the Super Bowl last year, it’s not guaranteed that their 2028 pick will be late in the round. The fact that it is a 2028 first-rounder, as opposed to 2027, does not move the needle much for me either. While the 2027 picks might be slightly more valuable given the expectation of the quarterback class, picks that are two years away are not inherently less valuable than those that are one year away.
Ultimately, the compensation is a shade on the pricey side for my taste. But it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than the Myles Garrett trade. And considering how big the Patriots need at wide receiver was, I can understand why they made the move. If they get Brown at his current price, it’s tolerable. In exchange, they could see a big impact on their passing offense.
1:28
Adam Schefter: Jared Verse made it possible for Myles Garrett trade to happen
Date: June 1
Rams get: Edge Myles Garrett
Browns get: Edge Jared Verse, 2027 first-round pick, 2028 second-round pick, 2029 third-round pick
Rams grade: C-
Browns grade: A
The Super Bowl favorite Rams just dealt for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, coming off a season in which he broke the single-season sack record … and yet it should be Browns fans celebrating this trade.
It’s a mighty acquisition for Los Angeles, but it’s a massive return for Cleveland — more than should have reasonably been expected, even for Garrett. Verse himself is probably worth more than a first-round pick, so the compensation here with no picks from the Browns and three from the Rams is really heavy.
Let’s start the conversation with Garrett, because there’s no question that his success is truly absurd. He was a first-team All-Pro in five of the past six seasons, recorded at least 12.0 sacks in each of the past six seasons, won Defensive Player of the Year two out of the past three seasons, ranks second to only Micah Parsons in both pass rush win rate and pass rush wins over the past four years, and — last but not least — recorded 23.0 sacks in 2025. Garrett is 30 and has not shown any signs of slowing down. But his age is no doubt a negative. Time comes for us all, even superstars. It’s just a matter of when.
In 2026, there’s no doubt Garrett makes the Rams’ defense — which already upgraded with Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson at cornerback this offseason — even better. The Rams were true Super Bowl contenders last season and the Super Bowl favorites for 2026 even before the Garrett acquisition. DraftKings Sportsbook made the Rams +800 to win the Super Bowl prior to the deal and moved the line to +600 afterward. Those few percentage points might feel small, but there are very few non-quarterback moves that can shift Super Bowl lines that much.
Critical to this trade grade is the evaluation of Verse, who might go overlooked in this deal but absolutely should not. Verse — who won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2025 — has 12.0 sacks and a 15.3% pass rush win rate at edge (62nd percentile) over his two seasons in the league. That pass rushing undersells his impact, though, because he is one of the best run-stopping edges in the league. In fact, he ranks second in run stop win rate at edge behind only Maxx Crosby in that span.
The contracts are also extremely important here. The Browns and Garrett modified the timing of his option bonus payments earlier this offseason, which means the Rams are going to pay a significant amount to Garrett. He’ll make $31.5 million from Los Angeles in 2026 and $41.7 million in 2027. He’s slated to make $24.8 million, $40 million and $40 million in 2028, 2029 and 2030, respectively. However, the dip in 2028 means Garrett could feasibly try to re-negotiate at that point.
Verse, meanwhile, is just entering his third pro season. The Browns are acquiring him with two years of inexpensive team control — plus a fifth-year option — remaining. He isn’t even eligible for an extension yet.
The contrast is significant. While the Rams will pay Garrett $73.2 million over the next two years, Verse will cost $5 million over the same span. Of course, that price is a value for Garrett, and he would absolutely go for more than that on the open market. But in terms of surplus value, the gap for Verse — between what the free agent market would bear and what he’s actually paid — is larger. And yet, the Rams had to deal serious draft capital along with Verse to make this trade.
For the Browns, it should have been easy to agree to this deal. I criticized Cleveland a year ago for not trading Garrett, and I still think that was correct (the Browns went nowhere despite Garrett breaking the sacks record). But what I didn’t imagine was that they could still manage anywhere near this kind of return while also offloading this much of the money.
The Browns are not contenders in 2026 and are probably a stretch to contend even in 2027. By the time they are prepared to make a run (read: have a quarterback), Garrett would have aged out of superstardom. This shifts his value into what could be their next contending window via Verse and the draft picks. It is worth noting that the 2027 first-round pick from the Rams is likely to be late in the first round.
For the Rams, the appeal of adding Garrett is obvious. The trade increases their chances to win the Super Bowl this season — and that is rightfully something to pay up for. However, I don’t think this is the type of team building that will maximize the Rams’ Super Bowl chances over the next several seasons. There is a drop-off from Garrett to Verse, but it’s not like Los Angeles is filling a hole here. After just one season in the NFL, Verse ranked at No. 10 in Jeremy Fowler’s 2025 survey of coaches, scouts and executives. Add in the massive pay disparity between the two players, and it makes it even harder to justify.
I will also add that this trade makes the Rams selection of Ty Simpson at No. 13 overall look even more questionable. For a team that is clearly going all-in on 2026, reaching for Simpson instead of adding an immediate contributor is a tough sell. I say that even though Matthew Stafford is an injury risk, but that would make me want a veteran backup for him even more.
The 2026 Rams are better today than they were yesterday. But the cost to the 2027-2030 Rams is too much to justify. And the Browns will reap the benefits.
