Grant Paulsen caught up with PFF’s Trevor Sikkema this week during the Super Bowl media frenzy to discuss quite a few Commanders topics, and Trev admitted ‘it was tough to watch’ the clock strike midnight on the Cinderella Commanders in the NFC Championship Game, although he came away thinking Jayden Daniels, whom he had ranked third on his pre-2024 Draft big board, is ‘for real.’
So, it’s back to the drawing board to see how they can take that next step, and, well, Sikkema is all in on the idea of trading two first-round picks, and more if needed, to Cleveland for Myles Garrett.
“That’s what I think it is. When you were talking about Cleveland, that’s the only way they trade Myles Garrett, because there's kind of a lot that goes into this,” Sikkema said. “The team acquiring him is actually on a pretty team-friendly deal, two years of very low cap and all the guaranteed money is off of the deal, so they love it.”
GP thinks the acquiring team would almost have to extend Garrett if they pay that price, but that also depends on where he goes.
“The answer is probably, but Myles wants to go to a contender so bad he might not hardball that too much, because he knows how good he is anyway,” Sikkema said. “So maybe it does come with an extension, maybe not, but the team that's trading for him…sometimes you get these guys who have signed these massive deals, and you're almost like, I’ve got to pay him a lot of money, so I'm obviously not going to give you as much in return. The opposite is true in this regard. because the Cleveland Browns would have to pay basically all the money.”
Indeed, SIkkema went into the cap specifics of how and when the Browns could part ways with Garrett, and Cleveland is really left holding the bag in every scenario – but that still doesn’t mean it’s not worth it for an acquiring team if the Browns do that.
“They're accelerating almost $36 million on the cap if they trade him, so you've got to jump through some hoops. You essentially have to restructure Deshaun Watson and Denzel Ward, and then probably cut Jack Conklin even to make it feasible to trade him,” Sikkema said. “So there's a lot of hoops that you have to jump through here which get us to the price, and what makes that worth it for Cleveland? That price is without question, in my opinion, two first-round picks at a minimum.”
And yeah, that’s absolutely worth it for the Commanders.
“I’m not thinking twice – no question I make this deal if I’m Washington, especially if they don’t have to include a young player in the return,” Sikkema said. “This year’s first-round pick is already at the very end of the first round, and you’re hoping next year’s starts with a 3, so you don’t care. You’re adding a pass rusher who's still in his prime, one of the best players in the world, a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber type of a player, who addresses one of your biggest needs at a premium position at a cost-controlled environment. I’m not thinking twice if they have that opportunity.”
Sikkema could understand if Cleveland asks for that player, but it starts with two 1s, and that’s a steal.
“If Cleveland tries to play hardball about it and they're like, well, we want Johnny Newton or a young guy return, something like that, then I think that's really where the negotiations start,” Sikkema said. “But for Cleveland, a trade for Myles Garrett only makes sense if they are tearing all of it down, and they are looking to gain ammunition for 2026 to move up to get some sort of quarterback that they want, because they're probably not going to be good next year anyway. I think that it has to be a two first-round pick conversation, because they're going to want the one this year to rebuild as much as they can, and then they're going to want the one next year to have ammunition and potentially move up to get the quarterback that they want, because it just looks like Deshaun Watson's time there is running out.”