Myles Garrett knee surgery: Los Angeles Rams DE headed to IR, out at least 4 games

Los Angeles Rams star Myles Garrett is set to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery and be placed on injured reserve. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year will miss at least four games after a limited debut in the Rams’ 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne.

Notably, the earliest Garrett can return is Week 6, when Los Angeles hosts the Arizona Cardinals on October 18.

Limited in Australia after a long camp layoff

Myles Garrett arrived in Los Angeles in June after Cleveland sent him west for Jared Verse and three future draft picks. The hope was a healthy edge rusher next to a returning Aaron Donald. Instead, knee swelling kept him out of most of training camp. Coach Sean McVay described it as swelling and said Garrett had rated himself around 85 percent at one point. After the opener, McVay still said Garrett was healthy “to my knowledge, yeah.” Garrett then told a different story.

He played about 40 snaps at Melbourne Cricket Ground and finished with zero tackles and zero sacks, only the fourth time in his career he has gone without a tackle. Afterward, he did not hide from it.

“This was the worst version of myself that I’ve put out there,” Garrett said. “I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to find a way to recover and get back to the player I know I can be, and I’ve shown that I’ve been before.”

He declined to name which knee was bothering him, though he had worn a sleeve on his left leg in practice. The long flights to and from Australia did not help a joint that had already been managed for weeks.

“When I was out there, I was a little bit more focused on myself and trying to stay healthy than what they were doing, and that showed,” he said. “I wasn’t who I needed to be for my team.”

Four-game minimum and a hard early slate

Injured reserve carries a four-game sit. That wipes out the next stretch of the Los Angeles Rams’ schedule: the New York Giants on Monday Night Football in Week 2, a Sunday night trip to the Denver Broncos, a road game at the Philadelphia Eagles, and a home date with the Buffalo Bills. Offenses will not have to chip and slide as often toward Garrett’s side while he rehabs.

Donald sat out the Australia game and is expected to give the front some interior juice when the Rams get home. Byron Young and the rest of the edge group will have to carry more of the rush until Garrett is cleared.

For a defense built around two former Defensive Players of the Year, this is an expensive first month. Myles Garrett set the NFL single-season sack record with 23 last year in Cleveland. Los Angeles paid a steep price to add that production. Until Week 6 at the earliest, the Rams will have to win without the player they traded for, and without the version of him he said was missing in Melbourne.