There's still no reason to believe the Tennessee **** ans are interested in trading All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, but days like June 1 are reminders as to why the conversation comes up so frequently.
In a span of just a couple of hours, the Cleveland Browns traded defensive end Myles Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for three draft picks and Pro Bowl edge defender Jared Verse. Then the Philadelphia Eagles punctuated months of speculation by dealing Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots for a pair of picks.
Other than the timing, these trades don't have all that much in common. The Eagles are contenders who spent the entire offseason bracing for this deal by drafting and signing Brown's potential replacements. The Browns are in total tear-down mode but now have multiple first-round picks in the much-ballyhooed 2027 draft and one of the league's best young defenders as a cornerstone.
The state of the **** ans is somewhere between, though closer to Cleveland's than Philadelphia's. And that's fitting because Simmons' value, coming off a year where he was the NFL's unquestioned best and most productive interior defensive lineman, is somewhere, though a little closer Garrett's than Brown's.
In exchange for Garrett, who is 30, the Browns got from the Rams a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, a 2029 third-round pick and Verse, a 25-year-old two-time Pro Bowler who hasn't yet reached his prime.
In a span of just a couple of hours, the Cleveland Browns traded defensive end Myles Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for three draft picks and Pro Bowl edge defender Jared Verse. Then the Philadelphia Eagles punctuated months of speculation by dealing Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots for a pair of picks.
Other than the timing, these trades don't have all that much in common. The Eagles are contenders who spent the entire offseason bracing for this deal by drafting and signing Brown's potential replacements. The Browns are in total tear-down mode but now have multiple first-round picks in the much-ballyhooed 2027 draft and one of the league's best young defenders as a cornerstone.
The state of the **** ans is somewhere between, though closer to Cleveland's than Philadelphia's. And that's fitting because Simmons' value, coming off a year where he was the NFL's unquestioned best and most productive interior defensive lineman, is somewhere, though a little closer Garrett's than Brown's.
In exchange for Garrett, who is 30, the Browns got from the Rams a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, a 2029 third-round pick and Verse, a 25-year-old two-time Pro Bowler who hasn't yet reached his prime.
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