Packers Get Bad News on Potential Trade for All-Pro Edge Rusher

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Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.

The Green Bay Packers could explore the trade market for a high-level pass rusher during the 2025 NFL offseason, but there is one superstar target — Cleveland Browns sensation Myles Garrett — whom they can safely rule out.

According to Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, Browns general manager Andrew Berry told reporters earlier this week “unequivocally” that he will not trade Garrett to another team during the offseason regardless of what trade offers he might receive.

Berry even answered a hypothetical question about a potential trade offer for the $125 million reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, which Cabot laid out for us:

“[Berry] was asked specifically, ‘If someone sees you at dinner tonight and says, ‘We’ll give you two ones for Myles, do you say I’m not interested?'” Cabot wrote on January 28. “‘Correct,” he said. ‘You can put that on the record.'”

Packers Lose Out on Top Trade Option in Myles Garett

Berry’s adamant stance on Garrett’s availability is bad news for the Packers if they aim to find upgrades for their defensive line on the trade market before the 2025 season.

The Packers struggled to consistently pressure opposing quarterbacks in their most recent campaign despite having four former first-round picks on their line. According to ESPN Analytics, Green Bay had the seventh-worst pass-rush win rate (35%) in the NFL in 2024 despite finishing in a three-way tie for the league’s eighth-most sacks (45).

Even with big money invested in both Rashan Gary and Kenny Clark, the Packers could stand to add another heavy-hitter in 2025, and a blockbuster trade for Garrett would have provided general manager Brian Gutekunst with a home-run hit at the position.

Garrett has been a Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection in each of his last five seasons with the Browns, tallying 72 sacks, 135 quarterback hits and 248 total tackles in that span. He won NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 after leading the NFL in pass-rush win rate (27.3%) and is also one of five finalists for the award again this postseason.

No doubt, Garrett would have been a difference-maker for Jeff Hafley’s defense.

Instead, the Packers must turn their attention to other pass-rushing options to fix their problems … although, another fan-favorite target may also now be unavailable.

Is Maxx Crosby Trade Also Off the Table for Packers?

A trade between the Packers and Browns for Garrett would have likely headlined the 2025 NFL offseason in terms of blockbuster exchanges, but Packers fans have been pounding the table for another top-tier pass rusher for weeks: Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby.

Crosby’s availability has been the subject of speculation for several months now. He is seeking a new contract with the Raiders now that he has no more guaranteed money left on his deal, but the changing of the guard in Las Vegas — both in the front office and on the coaching staff — has raised questions about his long-term future with the Raiders.

Unfortunately, Crosby’s latest comments about new head coach Pete Carroll and new general manager John Spytek suggest he isn’t going anywhere this offseason.

“Just a ton of great energy in the room,” Crosby said Tuesday of Carroll on his “The Rush” podcast. “It was finally good to talk to Pete. I got to talk to him before he got hired; he was actually here for an interview. I got to run into him and Mark [Davis] and got to chop it up with them, and then today, I got to spend a little more time with him. Not a ton, but we got to talk a little bit more and chop it up.”

The Raiders must still navigate Crosby’s contract demands before completely locking him in for the 2025 season, but his impressions of the new hires sound like good news for their ability to retain him — and more bad news for the Packers on the trade market.