Perhaps inspired by the NBA trade activity of this past weekend, Cleveland Browns star edge rusher and avid basketball fan Myles Garrett posted a trade request on social media Monday morning. Garrett’s post effectively said he’s tired of losing and wants to go to a team that has a better chance to compete for a Super Bowl than the Browns — where he has spent the first eight years of his NFL career.

Garrett is 29 years old and one of the best players in the entire league, regardless of position. He finished second in sacks (14.5) and sixth in pass rush win rate (21.5%) this season. He also happens to play a premium position, though. Teams are often willing to spend big money and/or trade premium draft picks to land an edge rusher. The Browns have said publicly that they have no intention of trading Garrett, but if that were to change, they could expect to receive very attractive offers. That could mean multiple first-round picks, for example, or premium picks and a young star player on a rookie deal.

So while it remains possible that Garrett does not get traded, it’s fun to imagine what it would look like if he did get moved — and which teams would make the most sense for him. We picked out a few teams that would make at least some sense on some level as Garrett trade destinations.

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Contract obstacles | Best trade fits

Could Garrett’s contract prevent a deal?

Before we get to the team fits, a quick word on the particulars of why Garrett’s contract would be difficult for Cleveland to trade. Because of past restructures, the dead money cap hit the Browns would incur for 2025 would exceed $36 million. They couldn’t split that money up over two years, because there’s no such thing as a post-June 1 trade designation, in the way there is for a post-June 1 release designation. They’d actually have to wait until after June 1 to do the deal if they wanted to defray the cap cost.

The acquiring team would have an easier time doing the deal financially, though. It’d have to pay Garrett just under $20 million this year and $25 million in 2026. Realistically, though, it’d probably have to extend Garrett’s contract once that team acquired him. So to make this hypothetical trade easier for both sides, the procedure would probably be for the Browns to rework or extend Garrett’s deal prior to the move.

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Schefter: Cleveland Browns ‘dug in,’ no plans to trade Garrett

Adam Schefter joins “The Pat McAfee Show” to talk about Myles Garrett’s stunning trade request from the Cleveland Browns.

Best fits for Garrett

Detroit Lions

They’re in win-now mode and have the cap space to pull this off. Their own star edge rusher, Aidan Hutchinson, is due for an extension at some point in the next couple of offseasons, but Detroit just went 15-2 before a shockingly disappointing early playoff exit and is looking to cash in on this contention window. And this is the kind of move the Lions could make, thinking it would get them over the hump. They could worry about the long-term implications once the confetti is falling.

The Lions are a little light on draft picks overall because of other trades, but they still have their first- and second-round picks for the next two years and could build a trade offer out of them. It’d be a shock — given the way the Lions have been operating the past couple of years — if they didn’t at least reach out to see if they could take a run at this. Detroit tied for 23rd in sacks (37) this season, so it could use the boost.

Philadelphia Eagles

Obviously, this is another win-now team — it has the chance to win the Super Bowl this week. Philadelphia has a little bit of a trickier cap situation than Detroit and would have to move some things around to make this work. But Eagles GM Howie Roseman is as aggressive as anyone in the league and loves to add star power to his roster.

If the Eagles lose the Super Bowl to the Chiefs for the second time in three years — especially if part of the reason is an inability to sack Patrick Mahomes in a big moment — it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they’d look to make this kind of big splash. It’s worth noting that Josh Sweat is a free agent, too, meaning the Eagles could be looking to restock the edge rush group.

Atlanta Falcons

Kirk Cousins for Garrett, who says no? I’m kidding. Well, sort of.

Let’s leave Cousins out of it for now and just look at the Falcons, who had high hopes heading into this season (and even heading into the second half of this season) before falling apart. Assuming they move on from Cousins as expected, they have a quarterback (Michael Penix Jr.) on a rookie contract and the ability to spend big on other parts of the roster to help them accelerate their championship window. The Falcons seem like a team chronically in need of edge rush help, and edge rushers like this don’t become available very often. Atlanta finished 31st in sacks (31) and was 30th in pressure rate (26.9%) this season.

The division-rival Carolina Panthers check a lot of these same boxes as a potential Garrett destination, but they might be a tougher sell for Garrett if he’s looking to maximize his chances to play in a Super Bowl soon.

Washington Commanders

A surprise run to the NFC Championship Game in Jayden Daniels‘ rookie season has to have Washington thinking about ways to maximize the quarterback’s rookie-contract window. The Commanders need all kinds of help on defense and could kickstart the rebuild on that side of the ball with a foundational move like this.

The Houston Texans (more on them in a second) acted aggressively in free agency last offseason after C.J. Stroud‘s big rookie year. And while that didn’t quite work out the way they’d hoped, it was a sign of the way teams view the benefit of the QB-rookie-deal window.

Basically any AFC contender

I could easily see the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills or Texans taking a run at Garrett. Heck, you could throw the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals in here, too — but the odds of the Browns trading Garrett to a team in their own division feel minuscule.

The reason I’ve lumped the Chiefs, Bills and Texans together here? If the Browns did deal Garrett, I believe they’d feel very strongly about sending him to an NFC team. That doesn’t mean the Chiefs, Bills, Texans, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers or any other AFC contender couldn’t get him. It just might cost that team more to do so than it would cost an NFC team, since the strong likelihood is that the Browns wouldn’t want to compete against Garrett in the same conference.