He set an NFL record with 23 sacks last year and was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, already one of the Super Bowl favorites, back in June. But in last week's season opener against the 49ers, he did little to justify the investment, playing just 61.54% of the Rams' defensive snaps and finishing without a single sack or tackle. Turns out, the knee injury that sidelined him in training camp was much more serious than believed.
On Sunday, right before the rest of the Week 1 games kicked off, the Rams placed Garrett on injured reserve and announced that he will require arthroscopic surgery on the knee, with the two-time Defensive Player of the Year now set to miss at least the next four games. Head coach Sean McVay later admitted that the team made the mistake of not knowing exactly how bad the injury was heading into the season opener. "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.
And so the next right thing for us is to be able to get this thing fixed." More news: Eagles Rookie WR Makai Lemon Had Historically Bad NFL Debut It was pretty obvious in the Melbourne game that something was up with Garrett. Some analysts pointed to it being a schematic issue, putting defensive coordinator Chris Shula on the hot seat. But the knee injury helps explain why he was not only ineffective but also barely on the field.
Unfortunately, with the team falling 27-7 to their NFC West rival 49ers, the Rams now enter a brutal stretch down 0-1 and without their headline offseason acquisition and best defensive player. More news: Michael Irvin Sounds Off on Cowboys After Brutal Loss to Giants More news: Titans HC Robert Saleh Gets Honest About Cam Ward After Ugly Jets Loss Next up, the Rams host the Giants, fresh off a dramatic 28-20 victory over the Cowboys on "Sunday Night Football," followed by road matchups against the Broncos and Eagles, and then the Bills on Monday night. The thought that the Rams could end that stretch with a losing record seemed impossible a few weeks ago.
But if Garrett misses all of them, that's a very realistic possibility.
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