Before ending up in the Twin Cities, several current Minnesota Vikings executives spent time as members of the Cleveland Browns front office, and some were even part of the group that decided to select Myles Garrett with the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Now, these connections to the Browns could help the Vikings potentially acquire Garrett in a trade this offseason if that's something the team wants to pursue.
On Monday, Garrett released a statement that included a formal request for Cleveland to trade him. Despite Minnesota already having a solid pass-rushing arsenal led by Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel, acquiring a player like Garrett could potentially take the team's defense to an elite level.
What connections do the Minnesota Vikings to Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett?
Back in 2017 when the Browns used the first overall pick in that year's NFL Draft on Garrett, current Vikings senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Grigson and assistant director of player personnel Chisom Opara were both members of that Cleveland front office.
At the time, Grigson was a senior football executive for the Browns, while Opara was the team's director of player personnel.
In addition to Grigson and Opara, current Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah served as Cleveland's vice president of football operations in 2020 and 2021 before joining the Vikings in 2022.
So, it's safe to say all three are very familiar with Garrett and probably know more about the player than what people just see him do on film. Adofo-Mensah likely already knows if the Browns All-Pro pass-rusher would fit well with the culture that has been established inside Minnesota's locker room.
Garrett just turned 29, and this season, he was selected as a First-Team All-Pro for the fourth time in his NFL career. With Cleveland in 2024, he finished with 14 sacks and he led the league in pressures with 83, according to data from PFF.
Garrett still has two years left on his current deal with the Browns and the team would actually lose more than $16 million in cap space if they were to trade him before June 1st. So, it doesn't really make a ton of sense for Cleveland to move on from him this offseason, but perhaps Adofo-Mensah, Grigson, and Opara can convince some of their old friends to change their minds.
