Rams welcome Myles Garrett

(News4usOnline) – The move caught the rest of the NFL flat-footed. And it instantaneously put the Los Angeles Rams at the top of the chart of potential Super Bowl contenders. 

On Monday, the Rams’ trade for Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, sent shockwaves throughout the league, causing a seismic shift in the perception of who is the best team on paper. 

Right now, it’s the Rams. Hands down. And there is no doubt about this. The Rams gave up three future draft picks and edge rusher Jared Verse to land Garrett, who actually has won the defensive player of the year honor twice during his prolific career. 

In one fell swoop, the Rams moved ahead of every other team in the NFC as prohibitive favorites to reach the next Super Bowl, which by the way, will be hosted at SoFi Stadium. 

It’s hard not to view the Rams as the team at the top of the conference after the team pulled off a stunning trade that resulted in the acquisition of Garrett from the Cleveland Browns. . 

The Rams were already armed with the 2025 NFL regular season MVP in quarterback Matthew Stafford, who signed a one-year extension on his contract and already gone out on the limb to get high-profile players in the offseason such as shutdown cornerback Trent McDuffie.

 The Rams then decided to go nuclear in going after and eventually nabbing Garrett.  

But in order to get Garrett, the Rams had to give up something in return. That something in return meant shipping off Verse and unloading three draft picks to Cleveland. After winning the 2024 NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award, Verse had been seen as one of the league’s up-and-coming new stars. 

However, in Garrett, the Rams are getting a massive upgrade in production and pedigree. Garrett has been selected seven times to the Pro Bowl. He has also earned his stripes as a five-time All-Pro.

It’s clear that the Rams want to win now. What’s also clear is that Rams general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay will move mountains to help the team reach their determined goal of winning another Super Bowl. 

“He’s going to make a great impact,” McVay said about Garrett at a well-attended press conference at the Rams practice facility in Woodland Hills. 

That impact is already being felt. The move to get Garrett made Verse expendable. It’s easy to see why. Garrett is what you may call a disrupter on the defensive line. In 2023, Garrett had an all-time season, recording 23 sacks. In his first nine seasons in the league, all with Cleveland, Garrett registered 125.5 quarterback takedowns.

Garrett spoke with glee as he talked about being a member of the Rams organization.

“I’m very excited and I want to thank you, Sean, Les and the Kroenke family for making this happen. Very excited to be here,” Garrett said. “It’s an honor and a blessing to be in this building. I have a lot of respect for all the guys here from the coaching staff, management and many of the players that I’ve got to see firsthand. It’s a very quality team, quality business and I like the way things operate and I’m looking forward to helping bring a championship here to L.A.”  

In acquiring the talents of Garrett, McVay knew it would come down to the inevitable for the Rams.  

“It’s a rare opportunity and it’s challenging because when you look at being able to acquire a player like this, these things don’t come up often,” McVay said. “When you do have a chance, you’re saying, ‘Hey, can we have the best of both where you’re able to get Myles and still keep a player that you love that’s been an instrumental part of the last couple years? That was the hardest part of this decision, parting ways with somebody that we love and care about.” 

The Rams arrived at this point out of the need to try to shore up their defense. Securing the services of McDuffie and Jaylen Watson at the beginning of the offseason was a start, Snead said. 

“How did we end up with Myles Garrett sitting between Sean and myself? I think when Sean and I first met for the first time to talk about the offseason, we did discuss how we can add to the defense,” Snead remarked. “That started with the trade with Trent McDuffie, adding Jaylen (Watson). I think when we get to, in Myles’ case, and I’ll keep this brief, when Cleveland made the adjustment to his contract, not sure if it was a signal, they made an adjustment.    

That adjustment would soon lead to discussions that Snead had with Cleveland’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry. What started off as offbeat talks turned up into more serious negotiations, Snead added.  

“We tried to do this with draft compensation,” Snead went on to say. “Then the draft came and went. We picked talks back up and we tried to discuss more draft compensation. At the end of the day, and where it got a little tough for us, is they asked for (Former Rams DE) Jared Verse in return. And similarly to what Cleveland did at first, we were a no based on all that Jared’s done for our organization.”  

Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay (right) with Myles Garrett, whom the team traded for from the Cleveland Browns in exchange for three draft picks and edge rusher Jared Verse.