Blockbuster Myles Garrett Trade Makes Rams the NFL's Most Terrifying Team
The 2025 Los Angeles Rams finished the regular season with a 12-5 regular-season record, and they came within five points of beating the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game to get to Super Bowl LX. That 31-27 loss clearly burned general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay, because the 2026 Rams have been all about improvement - especially defensive improvement - this offseason.
These Rams had already given defensive coordinator Chris Shula two of the best press cornerbacks in the NFL in former Kansas City Chiefs corners Trent McDuffie (via trade) and Jaylen Watson (via free agency). But the move they made on Monday is the most decisive showing overall as to their determination to be the NFL's most frightening team this season. Because the Rams traded edge-rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, and additional compensation to the Cleveland Browns for Myles Garrett, indisputably the best in the business at disrupting quarterbacks from the edge.
It's not just that Garrett adds his own special sauce to the Rams' defense; it's that he'll now have far more help than he ever had before. And that's what makes the Rams' defense so terrifying from top to bottom.
Myles Garrett is a force; now he has force multipliers
Last season for a Browns defense that ranked eighth in DVOA, Garrett has an astonishing 25 sacks and 84 total pressures in 507 pass-rushing snaps. It may have been his best overall season to date, which is pretty remarkable for a guy who turned 30 on December 29. Moreover, Garrett did what he did with very little help - there was nobody else on the Browns' defensive line who gave opposing offenses anywhere near the trouble that Garrett did, so those opposing offenses could load up against No. 95 and hope for the best.
Per Pro Football Focus, interior defensive lineman Maliek Collins had eight sacks and 28 total pressures last season. Edge-rusher Alex Wright had seven sacks and 22 total pressures. After that, things tended to fall off fairly quickly. Overall, the Browns ranked fifth in the NFL in pressure rate, but that was mostly because of Garrett, who had 24.7% of the Browns' 307 total pressures all by himself.
And when opposing offensive tackles had to deal with Garrett on any kind of island, the results were usually horrible news for the quarterbacks involved. Garrett's unmatched size/speed/bend/technique profile had those guys in pure hell, no matter how many Pro Bowls they may have attached to their names.
It didn't matter how great the opposing tackle was -- single-teaming Myles Garrett last season was an undisputed invitation to getting your quarterback killed. pic.twitter.com/ae7Cc45pm6
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) June 1, 2026
The Rams already had a front waiting for a superstar... now they have one
The Rams' defensive fronts were the diametric opposite of the Browns' last season in that there wasn't just one guy killing the quarterback; it seemed that everybody in Shula's fronts got to eat on a regular basis. Yes, Verse did lead the team with 100 total pressures (including the postseason) - the second-best in the league behind the 102 pressures put up by Will Anderson Jr. of the Houston Texans. Verse had just nine sacks as a part of his pressure numbers, while edge-rusher Byron Young had 13 sacks and 74 pressures, interior defensive lineman Kobie Turner had eight sacks with 59 pressures, and defensive lineman Braden Fiske had five sacks and 50 pressures.
The Rams' fronts in 2025 were a cascading wall of pressure from all kinds of angles, and the pure talent of the players was accentuated by Shula's preference for stunting his linemen through all kinds of gaps for maximum chaos. Opposing offensive linemen never really knew who to plan for in their areas, because the pictures change so quickly.
The @RamsNFL' stunt packages were so varied and so effective last season.
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) June 1, 2026
Now, add Myles Garrett into that particular hurricane. pic.twitter.com/MTKZm3NUka
This brings the pre- and post-Aaron Donald plans together
When Aaron Donald retired after the 2023 season, the Rams had one of two choices. They could hope against hope to find another Aaron Donald (yeah, good luck with THAT), or they could do what Billy Beane of the Oakland A's did in Moneyball when he started losing all his homegrown stars to higher-budget teams: He could replace Aaron Donald in the aggregate.
The Rams wisely chose the second option, and it worked. They put together a defensive line with a disparate set of individual talents, coached up as much as possible to at least approximate the effects of an all-time player.
Now, with the Garrett addition, the Rams have it all. The line they had to build to replace a historically great player, and another historically great player as the frosting on top of a perfectly-baked cake. The loss of Verse and at least a first-round pick may sting a little bit, but it's clear why the Rams wanted to get this done: Because if they bag the franchise's third Lombardi Trophy in the process, and the first-rounder they gave up is the 32nd overall pick, there will be not one word of regret anywhere in the building.
In the meantime, NFL, watch your backs... because the Rams are coming for you with as much pure force as any opponent can possibly muster.
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This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 11:36 AM.