After a quiet debut and sudden knee surgery, the All-Pro pass-rusher’s move to IR leaves a massive void in the Rams' defense, shifting the NFC West landscape.
Myles Garrett’s highly-anticipated Week 1 debut with the Los Angeles Rams did not go according to plan, and now the pass-rush star - a key player for the rivals of the Seattle Seahawks - is facing a significant absence after undergoing knee surgery.
Garrett was dealing with the knee issue throughout the summer, limiting his participation during training camp and the preseason. However, the Rams believed the veteran defensive end would be able to manage the injury and contribute once the regular season arrived.
That plan quickly changed following Los Angeles’ season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Garrett was unable to make an impact in the game and finished without a tackle or other statistical production.
The Rams subsequently placed him on injured reserve, a now-official move guaranteeing that he will miss at least four games.
Speaking Monday, Rams head coach Sean McVay explained that the organization initially believed Garrett could play through the problem.
"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," McVay said in a recent report from ESPN.com's Sarah Barshop. "That wasn’t the case. And so the next right thing for us is to be able to get this thing fixed."
The decision represents a major blow for a Los Angeles defense that entered the season with significant expectations surrounding Garrett. The former Texas A$M Aggies standout is one of the NFL’s premier pass-rushers ever, and the Rams acquired him with the expectation that he could make an immediate impact.
Instead, Garrett struggled in his first game with the team and ultimately determined that addressing the knee was the best course of action. McVay said the Rams will not know Garrett’s exact recovery timeline until after the procedure, although the minimum absence will be four games because of his placement on injured reserve.
For Garrett, the hope now is that the surgery allows him to return to the form that has made him one of the league’s most dominant defensive players. His first game with Los Angeles was certainly not representative of what the Rams expected when they brought him aboard.
Garrett's work at Texas A&M helped make him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, and he has continued that dominance at the professional level during his Cleveland Browns career.
But now he's in the NFC West, part of the arms race on the way to the playoffs ... and Seattle has its eyes on the situation.
The Rams will now have to find ways to survive without Garrett while he recovers.
For Los Angeles, the priority is clear: get its star pass-rusher healthy and back on the field as soon as possible.
And for Seattle, the mission is also clear: Get a head start in the NFC West standings.
