Top 10 Biggest Trades In NFL History: Where Does Myles Garrett Deal Rank?

Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead hasn’t been shy about making big trades, but he might have made his biggest move yet on Monday. After minimal buzz, the Rams landed two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns for two-time Pro Bowler Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick. It’s a historic trade in multiple regards. Garrett is the first reigning Defensive Player of the Year winner to be traded. Also, the Rams will become the first team in NFL history to have both the reigning MVP (QB Matthew Stafford) and Defensive Player of the Year recipients in the season after they won the awards (excluding when the same player took both honors). But where does the Rams’ trade for Garrett stack up against the most eye-opening deals in NFL history? Here’s our full top 10. After Randy Moss was moved to the New England Patriots in April 2007, his career found a second wind. He developed a special connection with quarterback Tom Brady and surpassed the 1,000-receiving yards mark each season from 2007 to 2009. In 2007, Moss posted a career-high 1,493 yards and 23 touchdowns, the most by a receiver in a single season. Despite his individual success, Moss wasn’t a part of New England’s Super Bowl-winning teams. A historical theory was tested with this trade: Can a team be successful with a high-powered, high-paid running back? The Carolina Panthers must not have thought so, and in 2022, during their fourth straight losing season, they traded Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers. Since then, the 49ers have proved the opposite. In McCaffrey’s first season, San Francisco went to the NFC Championship Game. The following year, he led the NFL with 1,459 yards and 14 touchdowns and the 49ers reached the Super Bowl. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded Steve Young to the 49ers in April 1987 for a second-round pick, a fourth-round pick and $1 million. In San Francisco, the struggling young quarterback resurrected his career. After backing up Joe Montana for four seasons, Young became the 49ers’ starter and led them to a Super Bowl victory in 1995. He also won the MVP in 1992 and 1994. Just one season after selecting Brett Favre in the second round of the NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons shipped him to the Green Bay Packers. Atlanta would come to regret that decision as Favre went on to lead Green Bay to a Super Bowl victory in 1997. He also won the league MVP award in 1995, 1996 and 1997, the only player in league history to win three straight years. Many view the Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff QB swap as a win-win. With Goff, the Rams lost the Super Bowl in 2018 before missing the playoffs the next season and losing in the divisional round the following year. So, in order to capitalize on a win-now window, they traded the younger Goff to the Detroit Lions for the wily veteran Stafford in January 2021. In his first season with Los Angeles, Stafford led the team to a Super Bowl title. While the deal instantly paid off for the Rams, it took a few seasons for the Lions. Detroit rebuilt around Goff as the city fell in love with the culture-setting quarterback. In 2025, the Lions put it all together, going 15-2 as Goff threw for a career-high 4,629 yards and 37 touchdowns. The Rams are still reaping the rewards of the trade as well, with Stafford winning MVP in 2025. While there were rumors about the Dallas Cowboys sending Parsons to the Packers, it was shocking when it actually happened. After failed contract negotiations, the Cowboys opted to trade Parsons a week before the start of the 2025 regular season, significantly diminishing their defense for two first-round picks. The Packers got an instant boost, with Parsons posting 12.5 sacks in 14 games before tearing his ACL in mid-December. Dallas, meanwhile, used one of the first-round picks on UCF edge rusher Malachi Lawrence in the 2026 draft. The other pick the Cowboys acquired from the Packers allowed them to trade for New York Jets star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams in the middle of the 2025 season. The second overall pick in the 1983 draft, running back Eric Dickerson was wildly successful in his first four seasons with the Rams. In 1984, he set the NFL’s single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards. After winning Offensive Player of the Year in 1986 and a prolonged contract dispute, Dickerson was traded to the Indianapolis Colts on Halloween 1987 for several draft picks and players, including three first-round picks. Was it a trick or treat? Dickerson ran for 1,011 yards in nine games after joining Indianapolis in 1987 before rushing for 1,659 yards and 14 touchdowns in 1988. But after that, his career started to trickle off as he made only one more Pro Bowl. The Colts were unwilling to pay Marshall Faulk, so they shipped him to the St. Louis Rams for a pair of draft picks in April 1999. It was a huge win for the Rams, who won the Super Bowl in Faulk’s first season as he rushed for 1,381 yards at a career-high 5.5 yards per attempt. The following season (2000), he won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award. The Rams’ blockbuster deal on June 1 earned them yet another spot on this list. They acquired Garrett from Cleveland for not only three draft picks (including a first-round selection), but also two-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Jared Verse. That’s the price of acquiring a two-time Defensive Player of the Year in his prime, though, as Garrett also set the single-season record for sacks (23) in 2025. In addition to the deal for Garrett, this marked the Rams’ second trade this offseason in which they swapped a first-round pick for a star player. In March, they gave up four picks, including a 2026 first-rounder, to acquire two-time All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie from the Kansas City Chiefs. In 1989, 36 years before the Micah Parsons deal, the Cowboys made a trade that still stands as the most significant in NFL history. In this instance, Dallas traded Pro Bowl running back Herschel Walker and four draft picks to Minnesota for a haul of five players and five draft picks that ultimately set them up to win the Super Bowl in 1992, 1993 and 1995. The Cowboys turned those five Vikings players into even more draft picks by cutting or trading them. Dallas’ best draft addition was running back Emmitt Smith, whom the Cowboys selected in the first round in 1990. He went on to become the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. Meanwhile, in Minnesota, Walker didn’t surpass the 1,000-yard rushing mark in any of his seasons there, and the Vikings released him in 1992. Check out all of our Daily Rankers. Read More

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