The Jacksonville Jaguars need to bolster the pass rush. Couple that with the fact that they showed interest in trading for Maxx Crosby before the Baltimore Ravens botched a deal, and it's easy to see why they were just dubbed a landing spot for Myles Garrett.
In case you missed it, the Cleveland Browns tweaked the language in the four-year, $160 million deal Garrett signed in 2025. The latest restructuring makes him easier to move, which has led to plenty of speculation even though Cleveland has made it clear that the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year isn't going anywhere.
Connor Orr of Sports Illustrated thinks that Jacksonville could acquire Garrett in return for two first-round picks. All things considered, that seems like a fair price to pay for the veteran pass rusher, especially when you take into account that the Ravens were willing to give up that kind of compensation in exchange for Crosby before they reneged on the deal.
Garrett is a better pass rusher than Crosby, but what if the Jaguars included one of their most prominent defensive players in the trade? That's what this pitch suggests.
The Jaguars trade 2 draft picks and Travon Walker in exchange for Myles Garrett
After B&T posted that Connor Orr brought up the Jaguars as a potential landing spot for Myles Garrett, along with his trade proposal, Twitter user @RBeam17 proposed they give up a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 pick, and Travon Walker. You could make the case that this is a better deal, at least from the Jacksonville side of things.
The Jags would be getting:
- Myles Garrett
Cleveland would get:
- A 2026 second-round pick
- A 2027 first-round pick
- Travon Walker
Sure, the Jaguars give up two early-round picks in consecutive years but get one of the top three defensive players in the league in return. Since being drafted first overall in 2017, he's racked up 125.0 sacks and earned five First-Team All-Pro designations the past nine years. Simply put, the former Texas A&M Auggie would take the Jacksonville pass rush to new heights.
And by trading Travon Walker, the Jags solve another dilemma they can't avoid in 2026.
Why would the Jaguars include Travon Walker in the Myles Garrett trade?
Travon Walker is entering a contract year. While he's been good, he isn't the kind of game-altering talent that deserves top-market compensation. Having logged 23 sacks the past three years, the former Georgia Bulldog is a valuable contributor on the Jacksonville defense, but unless he takes his game to the next level, it's hard to see the Jags paying him more than $25 million per year.
Per context, when Josh Hines-Allen signed his four-year deal worth $142.5 million in 2024, he became the second-highest paid pass rusher in the NFL. Fast forward to 2026, and he's now seventh. Just recently, Jaelan Phillips signed a contract with the Carolina Panthers that pays him an annual average of $30 million. At this point of his career, Walker hasn't done enough to warrant that kind of compensation.
This begs the question: Should the Jags go ahead and extend him now that his stock is down, or wait until 2027 to see if he can break out? By including him in a package to acquire Myles Garrett, Jacksonville would no longer have to worry about that. At the same time, the team's brass would be upgrading the pass rush significantly.
Sure, Garrett's deal isn't team-friendly, but it is manageable. He's slated to have cap hits of $23 million and $27 million in 2026 and 2027, and his cap number doesn't truly balloon until 2029, when he's set to have a base salary of $38 milllion and and an option of $18 million. By then, the cap will have gone up considerably, and Jacksonville should be in much better shape.
And by trading Walker, the Jags wouldn't have to worry about extending him and would instead be getting $15 million in space. This would, in turn, allow them to take on Garrett's contract without severely hindering their cap in future years.
The bottom line is that this deal is costly, but it would turn the Jaguars into contenders without depleting their cap the next three years. Furthermore, it would leave them with enough picks to address the larger scale roster.
Grade: B+