Last week, as talk of the them trying to acquire Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett became inescapable, former NFL wide receiver and Woodward Sports analyst Braylon Edwards went off the rails to suggest who shouldn't be off-limits for the Detroit Lions to give up in a trade to get Garrett.
"For me there's only three players off-limits in the trade. That's Penei (Sewell), that's Amon-Ra (St. Brown and that's Gibbs, Edwards said. "Everybody else, including ninety-seven, will be on the table. You talking about Myles Garrett in his prime, and still in his prime, or Aidan Hutchinson and maybe he'll come back and be this player? This is my opinion. I'll take Myles Garrett and you can have Aidan Hutchinson."
In Edwards' opinion, so much for the idea of teaming Garrett up with Hutchinson. Which would be the entire point of going "all-in" to trade for the future Hall of Famer and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, right?
The list of "untouchable" Lions players in a hypothetical Garrett trade extends beyond Sewell, St. Brown and Gibbs, to names that probably don't all need to be named. A lot of trade proposals haven't even included a player going back to the Browns for Garrett, only multiple draft picks.
Outside the box thinking when cooking up possible Lions' trade proposals for the Lions to get Garrett is one thing, and fine. But its easy to go off the rails when trying to differentiate yourself.
Another wild trade idea for the Lions to get Myles Garrett
On Wednesday morning, Brett Whitefield of Fantasy Points dropped this hypothetical "starting point" for a Lions-Browns Myles Garrett trade.
Joseph entering the final year of his rookie contract and in line to get a contracte extension at or near the top of the safety market seems to be driving Whitefield's angle here. In the comments to his tweet, he mentioned the Lions could replace Joseph in the draft with Texas safety Andrew Mukuba. So Whitefield didn't just blindly throw Joseph out there, with no ideas for how the Lions might replace him if he was sent to Cleveland for Garrett.
Whitefield also reinforced his premise, wondering if his proposal would be "enough of a starting point to get both sides to the phone?"
The Browns might like to get a player back in a trade for Garrett, if they do it. But in the cap situation they're in, thanks mostly to the bad contract they gave Deshaun Watson, acquiring younger players on rookie contracts would seem to be an order. Not someone like Joseph, on an expiring contract and set to get paid.
The Browns' angle naturally leaves out that the Lions are incredibly unlikely to trade Joseph. It's clear he is viewed as a core player. If that means making him one of the highest-paid safeties in the league, and it will, then so be it. It's also doubtful the Browns would ask for him in any potential trade talks about Garrett, given his contract situation.
Whitefield softened how outlandishness his trade proposal would have been by calling it a starting point for the Lions and Browns to engage on Garrett. But it's hard to see either side treating the inclusion of Joseph as that hypothetical starting point.
