Rams Lose Myles Garrett to Knee Surgery for at Least Four Games

The two-time NFL defensive player of the year, acquired from Cleveland in June, didn't record a tackle in the season opener.

Myles Garrett will have surgery on his left knee and go on injured reserve, keeping the Los Angeles Rams' most expensive defensive addition out for at least four games. A team official confirmed the move, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. Four games is a minimum, not a return date.

What the Rams paid for him is already in Cleveland. The Browns got third-year edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick and two more selections in the June trade, and the team that gave them up now hands the pass rush to Byron Young and a short list of names behind him.

The opener in Australia was the preview. Garrett played 40 of 65 snaps in a 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers and didn't make a tackle — the fourth game of his career without one, the Times reported. He'd missed most of training camp with a knee problem the team didn't specify.

Afterward, he called it “the worst version of myself” and said his own health was on his mind during the game instead of what San Francisco was running, according to the Times.

The Rams didn't record a sack. They hit quarterback Brock Purdy twice.

That's the gap Garrett was traded to close. In nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns he piled up 125½ sacks, including an NFL-record 23 last season, and he's a two-time defensive player of the year and a seven-time All-Pro. The Rams opened the year as the betting favorite to win Super Bowl LXI, and he was a large part of why.

Young is in his fourth NFL season. He reached the Pro Bowl off a 12-sack year, started opposite Garrett and now fronts the rotation, per the Times. Behind him: Josaiah Stewart, who had six tackles and a quarterback hit against the 49ers; Desjuan Johnson, who moved from end to outside linebacker last season and had one tackle; and Wesley Bailey, the only undrafted rookie to make the roster, who played two special teams snaps.

There is one more name. Aaron Donald came out of a two-year retirement to rejoin the Rams, in part for the chance to line up next to Garrett, and he didn't travel to Australia for the opener. If he debuts, it would be in the home opener.

Garrett's four-game window covers a run of opponents that doesn't forgive a thin rush: the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills, per the Times.

The Rams are back on the field Sept. 21, 2026, for their home opener.

Source: latimes.com, retrieved September 14, 2026.