Rams Trade Lands Garrett, Setting Stage for Pass-Rush Immortality
Rams Trade Lands Garrett, Setting Stage for Pass-Rush Immortality
The Los Angeles Rams have acquired Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett in a blockbuster trade, positioning the franchise for another Super Bowl run while handing the sport's most productive active pass-rusher the high-profile platform his career has so far lacked. Garrett, a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, has appeared in just three playoff games across nine NFL seasons - a scarcity of postseason exposure that has defined the one gap in an otherwise historic résumé.
Garrett holds the NFL single-season sack record of 23 and has compiled 125.5 career sacks in 134 games, including eight seasons with at least 10 sacks and 149 tackles for loss. He set the single-season mark in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on January 4, 2026. His combination of first-step quickness, a catalogue of pass-rush moves - spin, dip-and-rip, stutter swim, bull rush - and a conditioning level that sustains elite effort across all four quarters draws direct comparison to the game's all-time leaders at the position. Bruce Smith holds the career sack record at 200.0, Reggie White is second at 198.0, and Julius Peppers ranks fourth at 159.5. All three are Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees. Garrett, at 125.5 career sacks through nine seasons, is tracking on a pace that makes those benchmarks reachable.
In Los Angeles, Garrett steps into a defensive role previously anchored by three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald, whose interior disruption defined the defense that won Super Bowl LVI. While Garrett operates from the edge rather than the interior, the mechanism is the same: concentrated blocking attention on one player liberates others. Defensive lineman Byron Young, who recorded 12 sacks in 2025 with a pass-rush win rate that ranked among the top 20 edge defenders in the league per PFF, stands to benefit directly as opposing offenses divert resources toward Garrett. Young has totaled 24 sacks in 51 career games. Kobie Turner is also projected to see increased one-on-one opportunities as a result of the same effect.
General manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay have traded multiple first-round picks to construct the move, a pattern consistent with the franchise's aggressive win-now philosophy. The deal pairs Garrett with an All-Pro defensive back in Trent McDuffie and cover corner Jaylen Watkins, reconstructing a defensive infrastructure with structural similarities to the Super Bowl LVI championship unit. For Garrett, the stakes extend beyond a single season. With playoff appearances previously limited by circumstances in Cleveland, sustained success in Los Angeles - on the sport's largest stages - would provide the context needed to anchor any serious historical argument about where he stands among the greatest pass-rushers the game has produced.
