Super Bowl or Bust: Why the Bills Should Swing Big for Myles Garrett

After a long season that once again ended in devastating fashion, the Buffalo Bills look to improve their impressive roster this offseason to try to finally get over the hump and bring Buffalo their first-ever Lombardi Trophy. With Cleveland Browns’ superstar edge rusher Myles Garrett requesting a trade from the team that drafted him first overall back in 2017, the Bills will look to acquire the best defensive player in football regardless of how much it will take to land him.

After an underwhelming 2024 season, the Cleveland Browns are stuck in a horrible position as their roster is not good enough to contend. However, they are paying many of their players outrageous salaries, which prevents them from trading or releasing these players due to the dead cap rules in the NFL. To be specific, the Browns, despite trading Amari Cooper to the Bills, withheld his expensive $22 million salary this season. More importantly, the Browns gave up three first-round picks in addition to other draft capital to acquire the controversial quarterback Deshaun Watson after his sexual assault allegations were brought to light. What is even worse is that they decided to extend Watson without seeing him play for over a year to a five-year $230 million fully guaranteed contract, which broke the record for the highest fully guaranteed contract in NFL history. In his first two seasons with the Browns, Watson has played at an all-time embarrassing level before tearing his Achilles, which ended his 2024 season early. It is likely Watson will be released by the Browns and will not start for another team again due to his lack of talent and off-field issues.

With the Cleveland Browns’ future looking very dim, Myles Garrett made it known to his team that he only wants to remain with the team if they commit to winning, as the 29-year-old edge rusher is in the prime of his career and does not want to waste it on a team that has no sense of direction. However, just a few weeks after he met with the Browns, Myles Garrett officially requested a trade from the Browns in a farewell statement where he stated, "My desire to win and compete on the biggest stages won't allow me to be complacent," per Ian Rapoport. While the Browns have publicly shut down any trade negotiations for their star player, it is unlikely that Garrett will budge at all, which will force the Browns to trade him before the next season starts. With the 2025 NFL draft quickly approaching, the Browns are looking to acquire a massive return for the best defensive player in the NFL with hopes of starting a successful rebuild.

Myles Garrett's infamous helmet incident remains one of the most shocking moments in NFL history (WJLA)

For the Buffalo Bills, it is going to cost fortunes to land Myles Garrett, but Bills general manager Brandon Beane is heavily considering giving up a lot of the Bills' future to trade for Myles Garrett. Due to its expensive value, it will take at minimum two first-round picks and possibly even more to acquire the Browns star edge rusher. However, with the Bills in win-now mode and coming off an AFC championship appearance, the Bills first-round picks hold less value than other teams that finish lower than the Bills meaning that their first-round picks are much more valuable. With that in mind, the Bills could include edge rusher A.J. Epenesa who has been impressive at times in his tenure with the Bills in addition to their 2025 and 2026 first-round picks.

Furthermore, the Bills may want to include their young star edge rusher Gregory Rousseau to sweeten the deal for the Browns too. However, with Rousseau included instead, the Bills would only have to give away one of their first-round picks and instead give away the 2025 second-round pick that they acquired from the Houston Texans in the Stefon Diggs trade. In an ideal scenario, the Bills' starting front four next season can feature Myles Garrett and one of A.J. Epenesa or Gregory Rousseau playing on the edges, with Ed Oliver and DeWayne Carter filling out the Bills' defensive line. Moving Rousseau instead of giving him a large extension could save the Bills money in the future.

Nevertheless, the price of Myles Garrett will be extremely expensive, especially with the Bills competing with 30 other NFL teams in an intense bidding war. Either way, the Bills have an important offseason ahead of them and should look to improve their defence after an underwhelming season where Josh Allen and the offence carried the Bills all the way to a conference championship appearance. Do you think the Bills will focus on resigning many of their expired contracts and work towards extending key players such as James Cook and Christian Benford or will the Bills go all in and give up their future to trade for Myles Garrett and contend for the Super Bowl next season?