What would it take for a team to acquire Myles Garrett in a trade?

The Cleveland Browns are struggling through another season where they do not appear to be anywhere close to playoff contention, which has led to speculation that they could trade their best player. If the Browns were to go that route, the asking price would be massive and historic.

Myles Garrett is coming off a remarkable five-sack performance in Cleveland's 32-13 Week 8 loss to the New England Patriots. He now has 10 sacks on the season, but the Browns have little to show for it as a team. They are 2-6 and in last place in the AFC North heading into their Week 9 bye.

With the Nov. 4 trade deadline rapidly approaching, teams will likely at least call the Browns to get a feel for what it might cost to acquire Garrett. In some ways, the market has been set.

How many first-round picks would it take?

The most recent blockbuster trade involving a star pass-rusher was completed just two months ago. The Dallas Cowboys stunned the NFL when they traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, and the return was substantial.

The Packers traded a 2026 first-round draft pick, a 2027 first-round pick and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark to Dallas in exchange for Parsons. Some people felt the Cowboys should have gotten more, but the deal was comparable to the one that resulted in Khalil Mack landing in Chicago several years ago.

In 2018, the Bears traded two first-round picks, a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick to the Oakland Raiders for Mack. The Bears also received a second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick in the deal. When you sub out Clark for all the additional draft capital, the trade was quite similar to the one that sent Parsons to Green Bay in August.

The draft picks are the big prize in almost any NFL trade. If the Browns wanted to, they could start the bidding at three first-round picks and go from there.

Myles Garrett probably isn't going anywhere

The Browns signed Garrett to a four-year, $160M contract extension that included $123.5M guaranteed this past offseason. One longtime Cleveland reporter said there is "zero chance" the team is going to trade Garrett now, as it would have done so before signing him if that were the plan.

Even if a rival team were willing to give up multiple first-round picks, trading Garrett would cost Cleveland a ton of money. As Spotrac notes, the Browns would have a dead cap hit of more than $20M this year and $40M in 2026 if they were to trade Garrett.