The Los Angeles Rams are facing the unfortunate reality of being without star pass rusher Myles Garrett for at least the next four weeks as he is set to undergo right knee surgery and be placed on injured reserve.
Rams head coach Sean McVay discussed how the team arrived at that decision and said they want Garrett to get ahead of the issue now so he could be at his best later in the season, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“The reality is, our job is to put our players and our team in positions to have successful outcomes,” McVay said Monday during a video conference with reporters. “Thought we would take an approach where he’d be feeling good enough to go contribute positive change and be the player that he’s capable of. That wasn’t the case, and so the next right thing for us is to be able to get this thing fixed. In the meantime, we’ll look forward to whenever that time is that we get him back. But that was kind of what went into the decision, and now we’re moving forward.”
With Garrett heading to IR, he won’t be available to play in the Rams’ next four games against the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills.
The earliest he could potentially return is Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals, but McVay doesn’t want to definitively say that he will be ready to play that day:
“You feel good about it, but I think it’d be unfair to him, or really just without having the totality of all the information, to put any sort of timeline on it,” McVay said. “We know that he’ll be available in four weeks potentially, and so we’ll just take that a day at a time.”
With Garrett sidelined, the Rams will rely on their depth to help replace his production. L.A. still has a stacked defensive line with Kobie Turner, Byron Young, Braden Fisk, Poona Ford and others capable of making an impact.
Of course, it also helps that future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald came out of retirement to rejoin the Rams and could make his 2026 debut as soon as Week 2 against the Giants.
Matthew Stafford discusses Rams’ offensive struggles against 49ers in Week 1
The Rams turned in a disappointing performance in their highly anticipated regular-season opener, falling 27-7 to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia.
The Rams scored their only touchdown in the first half and were then shut out over the final 30 minutes of action, capping off a frustrating day for the offense.
Matthew Stafford, who threw for just 155 passing yards with an interception, said the Rams were never really in sync throughout the game but is confident they will bounce back against the Giants.
