Rams place Myles Garrett on Injured Reserve after knee surgery

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay said Monday that outside linebacker Myles Garrett will undergo knee surgery and will be placed on Injured Reserve after the team’s Week 1 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, sidelining the Rams’ biggest offseason addition for at least four games.

The Rams published the update Sept. 14, one day after a 27-7 season-opening defeat to San Francisco in Australia. Under NFL rules, players placed on Injured Reserve must miss a minimum of four games before they can return. For Garrett, the Rams’ team report listed those games as Week 2 against the New York Giants, Week 3 against the Denver Broncos, Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles and Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills.

The loss is significant for Los Angeles because Garrett was not a routine starter addition. The Rams acquired him from Cleveland in a blockbuster June 2026 trade to anchor their pass rush, and he opened the season as one of the league’s most accomplished defenders.

Garrett played 62% of the Rams’ defensive snaps in the opener, but afterward made clear he was limited physically. “This was the worst version of myself that I put out there,” Garrett said postgame. Asked what came next, he said: “Getting healthy. That’s the main thing.”

McVay said the team initially believed Garrett might be able to manage the issue without surgery, but changed course after the opener.

“The reality is, our job is to put our players and our team in positions to have successful outcomes. 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. That wasn’t the case, and so the next right thing for us is to be able to get this thing fixed. In the meantime, we’ll look forward to whenever that time is that we get him back. But that was kind of what went into the decision, and now we’re moving forward,” McVay said, via the Rams’ team site.

McVay declined to offer a firm return date beyond the four-game minimum.

“I think it’d be unfair to him, or really just without having the totality of all the information, to put any sort of timeline on it … We know that he’ll be available in four weeks potentially, and so we’ll just take that a day at a time,” McVay said.

The Rams did not specify the procedure in their own wording. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that Garrett is expected to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery.

Garrett entered 2026 as the reigning AP Defensive Player of the Year and was widely reported to have set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 sacks in 2025. That résumé is why his absence looms so large for a Rams defense that was built, in part, around his arrival.

McVay’s broader injury update was more encouraging elsewhere. Safety Kam Curl is dealing with ankle soreness, but McVay said he is “good.” Linebacker Nate Landman hurt his shoulder and thumb and is expected to be ready for Week 2. Tight end Davis Allen was evaluated for a concussion during the opener and returned to the game. Linebacker Omar Speights is dealing with a hip pointer and swelling, though McVay said he is progressing better than expected.

As of the team update Monday, the Rams’ public transactions page had not yet reflected the formal move. For now, Garrett’s pending Injured Reserve designation remains as McVay announced it: Garrett will be placed on IR, with surgery next and at least a month on the sideline to follow.