WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — When Myles Garrett emerged from a pair of double doors inside the Los Angeles Rams facility with coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead, one of the biggest trades in NFL history finally became a reality.“Finally,” Snead said.But this was more than a momentary decision, or an opportunity that just dropped from the sky.For months, Snead was on the heels of Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry, asking about his two-time defensive player of the year, who turns 31 in December. It went from a pipe dream before the draft to jokes after it. But when the Browns reworked Garrett’s contract to make a post-June 1 trade a possibility, the most aggressive team in the league finally saw an opportunity.The Rams wanted to pull this off just with draft compensation at first. After all, they lean into the “F them picks” jokes when they can. But the Browns’ answer to that idea was consistently a no.Then, Cleveland brought up a young first-round edge rusher on the Rams’ roster named Jared Verse. He was already a Defensive Rookie of the Year and two-time Pro Bowler playing on a cost-controlled rookie contract for the next three seasons.“And similar to Cleveland at first, we were a no,” Snead said.But to make a day like this possible, to add arguably the NFL’s closest version to Aaron Donald since Donald retired from the Rams after the 2023 season, it would take something bold. And after spending the No. 13 pick in this year’s NFL Draft on a quarterback of the future in Ty Simpson, the Rams felt they had one more bold swing in them.So Los Angeles agreed to trade Verse, along with a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick, to Cleveland for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who just broke the NFL’s single-season sack record with 23.Just one year prior, Garrett signed a four-year extension for $160 million to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. With it came a no-trade clause.He’d spent all nine seasons of his NFL life in Cleveland with the franchise that drafted him No. 1 in 2017. He’d laid roots in the community, bought a house in the suburbs and helped lift the Browns out of the darkness of a 0-17 record to land him and the franchise’s first playoff victory in a quarter century. But he, too, had dreams beyond his current situation.“The opportunity to come here and have an immediate and profound impact on a team,” Garrett said, “it’s something that has me looking forward.”That chance for impact had slipped away in Cleveland as the Browns returned to quarterback purgatory. His 23 sacks last season came on a team that finished 5-12 with the No. 31 scoring offense in the league.In Los Angeles, he saw a team with a reigning MVP at quarterback in Matthew Stafford, an offense that finished No. 1 in scoring last season and a team that went 12-5 and came up just a few yards short of a return to the Super Bowl.“That did play into the decision as well, knowing I’ll have the opportunity late in a game to pin my ears back, not just because we need a play to be made but because we have the lead and it’s obvious passing downs,” Garrett said. “Being able to make those game-changing plays to win the game for us, those are things that appeal to me.”Last year’s Rams couldn’t quite edge the Seattle Seahawks in two classic games to decide the NFC West and then the NFC Championship. Both times, despite explosive games from Stafford and receiver Puka Nacua, the Rams fell just short as no member of their defense was able to make the closing play.“When you do look at the body of work,” McVay said, “what you envision in terms of the fit and how that can help the other 10 guys around and what are the different things he elicits attention-wise, where are some opportunities where we can free him up or he can offer opportunities for other guys to get the man side of the protection.“… He is a pain in the ass to game plan against. I’m glad we don’t have to do that anymore.”Now, the Rams will get to game plan with him. Garrett will slide into Verse’s role as the edge rusher who will see all the attention an opposing team can offer him, from double-teams to sliding protections to chips from tight ends and running backs. Those are what he played through for 23 sacks last season and for at least 14 sacks in an NFL-record five straight seasons.Now, he’ll do it for a defense that is looking to take the step from good to great. The Rams finished in the top 10 in scoring defense last season but regressed once the playoffs arrived, when a trio of Verse, Byron Young and Kobie Turner combined for just one sack in three postseason games. This year’s squad has replaced three starting spots with Garrett and at outside cornerback with two-time All-Pro Trent McDuffie and two-time Super Bowl champion Jaylen Watson.The Rams were already Super Bowl favorites in all major betting outlets after the draft. Now, they’ll add arguably the best defensive player in the NFL.“You guys remember who the Super Bowl favorites were before last season, right? No, you don’t,” McVay said. “Nobody remembers. It’s a fun narrative right now, but we’re going to be inside out. We’re going to earn it every day.”The splash to land Garrett started up some inquiries about whether Donald himself might want to make another run at playing. He hasn’t played since 2023 and said last fall he doesn’t feel any itch to play again.“Listen, if he’s interested, I’ll say this: You talk to Aaron and see what he’s saying about that,” McVay said.With or without Donald, the expectations on this year’s Rams are going to be sky high. Not only do they have the talent to make a run at the Super Bowl, but they also feel the ticking clock around their quarterback, who is 38 years old and entering an 18th NFL season. That’s why they made trades for McDuffie and Garrett, and it’s also why they planned for life after Stafford by selecting Simpson with their highest draft pick in a decade.It meant sacrificing one of their rare first-round hits in recent seasons in Verse. Verse took the news in stride Monday, McVay said, and it left the locker room with mixed emotions after it lost one of its top players to land one of the biggest stars in the sport.The move will put some futures a bit more in question. Even with Garrett as a discount in the interim, the five years remaining on his contract will make it harder to re-sign a list of players entering contract years that includes six of The Athletic’s top 30 free agents, spanning from Turner to Young to Nacua to wide receiver Davante Adams to guards Kevin Dotson and Steve Avila.But those are later problems now.Garrett first heard of the possibility of going to the Rams a week ago. He was intrigued by the talent level as well as the man running the team.“They love playing the game for this guy,” Garrett said while nodding to McVay, “and that means a lot, having a players’ coach.”The Rams agreed to the final version of the trade Sunday. Then they had to break the news to Verse. Garrett, meanwhile, reached out to Poona Ford to gauge how he could get his No. 95 jersey.“It was just a conversation,” Garrett said.McVay interjected.“Just a conversation and a couple bucks?” the coach said.Garrett replied, “Maybe more than a couple bucks.”This season holds such high expectations, but this isn’t a single-season move, either.Garrett will be under contract for the next five seasons. The next three come at a major discount, with the Browns eating his signing bonus, dropping those three years to a total cap hit of less than $46 million. His cap hits will then jump to $42.4 million in 2029 and $50 million in 2030, by which time Simpson could be starting for the Rams in the final two years of his rookie deal.Garrett has already built a first-ballot Hall of Fame career with 125 1/2 sacks in 134 games. Now, he’s looking to add the elements his first nine seasons have lacked.“I see a position to solidify myself here as among the very greats,” Garrett said. “I still have plenty of great years in front of me. Being able to cement that legacy not only as a football city here in L.A. but as an individual as a winning DPOY and with a Super Bowl or more. Those things are definitely pressing on my mind.“I definitely have a sense of urgency to do it and to do it right away.”