The Buffalo Bills wanted Myles Garrett. They wanted him for a long time, and they never had a real chance.
Tom Pelissero reported this week that Buffalo called Cleveland the day the Garrett-to-Rams trade leaked, a last-second attempt to jump in front of a deal that was already essentially finished. The Bills had also been checking on Garrett’s availability periodically for roughly two years and were told the same thing every time: he is not available.
Then he became available, and Buffalo still lost.
The reason has a name
Jared Verse. Pelissero called Verse’s inclusion “pivotal” in getting Cleveland to sign off, and that detail explains everything about why the Bills were never going to win this.
The Rams sent Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second and a 2029 third for Garrett. Buffalo could have matched the picks. Any team can match picks. What Buffalo could not do was produce a young, cheap, ascending edge rusher who had already proven he can play at a high level in the NFL.
Cleveland was not looking for a pile of futures. The Browns were trading a generational defensive player and needed something they could point to immediately, a player fans could watch on Sunday rather than a spreadsheet of picks that pay off in three years.
Buffalo had no version of Verse. That was the whole negotiation.
Why Brandon Beane called anyway
Some fans will roll their eyes at the idea of Buffalo calling on a deal that was already done. They should not. That call costs nothing.
Beane has built a reputation for being on every trade line in the league, and occasionally that reputation gets mocked. It should not be. The general managers who miss out are the ones who assume a player is unavailable and never dial. Buffalo dialed for two years straight and was in position the moment the news broke.
They just did not have the currency. Sometimes that is the honest answer.
Buffalo went a very different direction
What the Bills did instead was reshape the offense and the sideline. They acquired DJ Moore from the Bears, giving Josh Allen a legitimate No. 1 receiver, which has been the loudest complaint about this roster for years.
Then came the bigger move: Sean McDermott out, Joe Brady in. Brady had already turned Buffalo’s offense around once as coordinator, and he brings a personal history with Moore from their Carolina days. Brady told Pelissero that Moore looked like the same player on the 2025 tape that he coached with the Panthers.
So Buffalo swung at pass rush and ended up remaking the offense and the leadership structure. That is not the same fix. It might be a better one.
What it means going forward
Buffalo’s window is defined by Josh Allen’s prime, and every offseason spent not maximizing it stings. Missing on Garrett is a real loss because he would have solved the pass rush problem for the entire length of that window.
The lesson for Beane is uncomfortable but clear. Buffalo’s recent drafts have not produced the kind of young star that other teams demand in a blockbuster. That is why the Rams could pull this off and the Bills could not.
Los Angeles paid a steep price and now has Garrett and Aaron Donald on the same defensive line. Buffalo has DJ Moore, a new head coach, and a phone log full of calls that went nowhere.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
