Myles Garrett. Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Do the Browns have the best pass-rushing duo in the NFL?

By Aaron Becker | Last updated 5/15/23

The Browns have done it again. Just when you thought general manager Andrew Berry was done for the offseason, he made another trade last Friday that may create the best pass-rushing duo in the league.

Cleveland traded the Vikings for three-time Pro-Bowl pass rusher Za'Darius Smith, and it only cost a swapping of late-round picks in 2024 and 2025.

The full trade, per league source:#Browns get:
Za'Darius Smith
2025 6th-round pick
2025 7th-roundpick#Vikings get:
2024 5th-round pick
2025 5th-round pick https://t.co/outlkV71ME
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 12, 2023

Smith will join DE Myles Garrett on the Browns defense and the two will surely keep offenses up at night in 2023.

Garrett is coming off back-to-back 16-sack seasons while Smith had a 10-sack season for himself in his lone year in Minnesota.

Cleveland had a clear weak spot on its roster in 2022 after not having a player exceed three sacks outside of Garrett. The team has since added Dalvin Tomlinson, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Maurice Hurst, but Smith might be the best of the bunch.

Smith is in the back half of his career as he will turn 31 during this season but he should still have plenty left in the tank to help a Browns team with high aspirations in 2023.

If Garrett and Smith have a special season that they certainly have the capability to have, Cleveland may just be on its way to its franchise's first Super Bowl.

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