Rams head coach Sean McVay said defensive end Myles Garrett will need surgery on his knee, and the team will not have a timeline for his return until after the procedure. Garrett will miss at least the next four games while on injured reserve.
McVay said the plan had been for Garrett to play through swelling in his knee, which caused him to miss most of training camp. It became clear during the Rams' Week 1 loss to the San Francisco 49ers that the approach was not working. The game was Garrett's first without a tackle since Week 11 of the 2024 season and just the fourth of his career, according to ESPN Research.
"Thought we would take an approach where he'd be feeling good enough to go contribute positive change and be the player that he's capable of," McVay said. "That wasn't the case. And so the next right thing for us is to be able to get this thing fixed." McVay said Garrett's timeline is contingent upon how "things go today."
After the loss in Melbourne, Australia, McVay had said Garrett was, to his knowledge, 100% healthy. McVay said Monday that after speaking with Garrett following that news conference, it became clear that was not the case, and the decision for Garrett to have surgery and go on injured reserve came shortly after. "Obviously we thought we were doing the right thing, but in hindsight, you'll always be able to learn from it," McVay said.
Garrett said after the game that he had been playing through an injury. "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," Garrett said. "I wasn't who I needed to be for my team." McVay also said the Rams have not decided whether defensive tackle Aaron Donald will play in Week 2 against the New York Giants.
