MYLES GARRETT COULDN’T take part in the Los Angeles Rams‘ joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys in mid-August. But he made his presence felt.
Garrett missed that practice — and 12 more — as he deals with swelling in his knee.
But while Garrett wasn’t practicing, he was standing on the sideline with his new teammates, vocal enough that Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott noticed.
“He was on the field,” Prescott said with a smile when asked whether he was bummed he didn’t get to go against Garrett in practice. “Oh, he was definitely on the field.”
The Rams are being cautious with Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year who had a league single-season high 23 sacks with the Cleveland Browns in 2025. The Rams traded for Garrett in June as part of their attempt to maximize the remaining time quarterback Matthew Stafford wants to play.
By trading for Garrett, the Rams added not only the NFL’s best defensive player last season, but another leader on defense. When he arrived in Los Angeles, he knew the team had an established culture, and he wasn’t trying to “force” himself “on anyone or try to take over a group.”
“This group was doing great without me,” Garrett said. “I want to just try to help elevate other guys and the playmakers that we have here.”
But, Rams outside linebacker Byron Young said, Garrett is absolutely “changing the culture” with the way he conducts himself.
“We were about to leave yesterday and he said, ‘We’re not going to break it down?'” Young said early in training camp. “I was like, ‘We’re breaking down in the meeting room?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to break it down in here.’ So I said, ‘OK!’ That’s a piece of the culture that he’s bringing in.”
ALTHOUGH GARRETT HASN’T practiced since early August, he did start training camp on the field with the Rams. And it didn’t take long for him to stand out.
“He’s an alien,” Rams safety Kam Curl said. “He can do whatever he wants to do, and the offense can’t do anything about it. I can’t wait to get to play with him on Sundays.”
Safety Quentin Lake said that when watching film of practice, it’s Garrett’s athleticism that stands out. Lake joked, “It honestly made me feel like I’m not athletic looking at how athletic he is.”
“We saw him come off the edge [in the meeting room], and I’m like, ‘Man, these offenses are going to have a tough time throwing the ball,'” Lake said. “Incredible player.”
Young said it didn’t take him long to notice Garrett’s “first step.”
“When he gets off the ball, if you see him go every rep, he gets about three or four yards the first step,” Young said. “That right there alone is amazing. Watching him play and practice and his mindset of getting off the ball, that’s something I want to work on and be better at.”
Defensive tackle Kobie Turner said watching Garrett reminded him of playing with defensive tackle Aaron Donald. The pair played one season together before Donald retired in March 2024. Donald re-signed with the Rams Sunday and was on the field for a jog-thru that afternoon. Defensive end Braden Fiske agreed, saying, “not all men are created equal, that’s for sure.”
“There are some things that he can do that nobody else can really do,” Turner said. “There are some things that Myles can do that nobody else can really do. I’ve been able to appreciate some of the simplicity of a lot of his rushes. He’s just beating you off the snap. He’s getting to his rip and then he’s able to work at the top of the rush. He works at the top of the rush really well. He’s able to bend corners.”
And while his defensive teammates have seen how Garrett’s game will help theirs, his teammates on offense have seen how he wrecks games.
“I’m happy I’m getting to go against him in camp and not in the regular season,” Rams tight end Tyler Higbee said. “He’s not out there embarrassing me on national TV.”
Added right guard Kevin Dotson: “I feel like for the offensive line, it’s ‘AD’ [Donald] protocol. Wherever he is, we’re going to him. We need hands on deck with him, and him having that type of effect on the offense can change the whole game plan.”
And if Donald decides to come out of retirement, as he is contemplating?
“Now you have nowhere to deny what’s about to happen,” Dotson said. “So it’d be great.”
Stafford said he remembers playing against Garrett in 2023, and going against him in practice reminded him of how challenging that can be.
“Every single play it is a chess matchup,” Stafford said. “‘OK, where is he? Can we run the play that we’re going to run or can we not?’ And then he affects every time you drop back to throw the football, right? And shoot, hand it off and run it as well.”
Added Lake: “There’s no question whether he’s going to dominate or not. So now it’s just making sure, ‘Hey, can we do our job so this guy can go cut it loose over there, too?'”
THE RAMS ARE still getting to “learn” Garrett’s body, McVay said, as the training staff is “establishing trust and rapport.”
“He’s tough as hell and he wants to be out there,” McVay said when asked about Garrett’s knee injury. On Aug. 25, McVay said Garrett has not suffered any setbacks with his knee and that the Rams are erring on the side of caution with the goal of getting him to peak when Los Angeles opens against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 in Melbourne, Australia (8:35 p.m. ET, Netflix).
On the day in mid-August when McVay first said Garrett was missing practice because of swelling in his knee, he said the pass rusher told him he’s feeling about 85% healthy.
“I don’t know what 100% is going to look like, but it must be pretty good if that’s 85%,” McVay said.
Although he hasn’t been on the field for much of camp, Garrett said, “it’s been a joy” to be in Los Angeles with his new team. Garrett, the 2017 No. 1 pick by the Browns, said the Rams’ coaching staff has allowed him to play more freely during practice.
“Playing with freedom, not being punished or critiqued for trying to make a play,” Garrett said. “There are guidelines and boundaries you’ve got to stay within the defense, but as long as we put ourselves in the right spots, they’re all for it.”
Stafford has familiarity with arriving to the Rams late in his career. The veteran quarterback, now entering his 18th NFL season, was traded to Los Angeles in 2021 after spending the first 12 years of his career with the Detroit Lions. Stafford said he has “been in those shoes before, a little bit,” noting, “I didn’t have the pedigree that he had coming in that he has right now.”
“But he’s done a great job of just figuring out what we’re about, understanding how we go about things, and fitting right in,” Stafford said. “I mean, it’s hard not to when you’re as good a player as he is.”
