My initial reaction to today’s blockbuster trade is this — if Matthew Stafford and Myles Garrett stay healthy, it’s very difficult to imagine anyone but the LA Rams winning the Super Bowl next season.

An already highly successful team just acquired one of the greatest players ever to play the game. Garrett isn’t any old impact player — he’s a one-man game-wrecking machine. At times he is unstoppable.

It’s a scary thought to imagine what a player who can tally 23 sacks for the Browns, with little in the way of support, could do playing for a legit contender who will often be leading in games with a better supporting cast.

This is a huge statement of intent by the Rams and frankly, a superb move. They deserve a ton of credit for making it happen.

The compensation is a steal. A first round pick in 2027, a 2028 second rounder and a 2029 third rounder — plus Jared Verse.

Unfortunately for the Seahawks, it already gives off vibes of being the kind of ahead-of-the-curve thinking that landed San Francisco blue-chippers in Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey.

The Rams were clearly in win-now mode even before this trade. They want to max-out the last year or two of Stafford’s career. Who knows how long Sean McVay will want to carry on for? Now they have a legit 1-3 year window where they can go all-in.

The aim will be to win at least one Championship in that period. Who’d bet against them doing it? These are the kind of difference-making deals that get you over the line. The Rams will start next season as red-hot favourites.

Garrett is the walking embodiment of a generational player. When you combine his game-wrecking skills with McVay and Stafford on offense, it’s a terrifying cocktail. We just need to be honest and admit this isn’t a good day to be a Seahawks fan.

It’s why I’m very grateful for last season. They won a Championship when the optimal opportunity emerged. There’s no great, heaving pressure to do it again. That would exist had they missed out last season.

Yet the reality is the Seahawks, as with everyone else in the NFC, will now have to deal with a juggernaut.

I have no negative feeling towards the Seahawks for not getting this done themselves. I think it’s clear the Browns are taking the Quinn Hughes approach. They wanted a young talent as much as the picks. Hughes got the Vancouver Canucks one first rounder, three players including another talented young defender in Zeev Buium and other, lesser, draft compensation.

The Seahawks likely would’ve had to sacrifice one of Byron Murphy or Devon Witherspoon to do this and that was never going to happen. Even then, the Browns might’ve still preferred the EDGE rusher.

Verse is a good-not-great player. The Rams could very realistically dangle him with picks to get this done. It works for both LA and Cleveland in that regard — although if I were the Browns, I would’ve hoped for a bit more in the way of draft stock coming back.

I don’t think the Seahawks will be rushing out to make a counter move. Being reactive like that would be overly emotional and ill-advised. I’m sure they’ll still linger in the background if Maxx Crosby becomes available again — but I wouldn’t anticipate any big splash being on the horizon.

They do have to be somewhat wary, though, that they too are in a window here. They don’t want to squander it by being too conservative. In the case of Crosby and now Garrett, I don’t think they had much shot of getting it done. In the future, though, they should be as prepared as the Rams have been to push the envelope.

I’ll be doing a live stream at 2pm PT discussing the trade: