Myles Garrett to undergo knee surgery, miss minimum four games for Los Angeles Rams

Los Angeles Rams star pass rusher Myles Garrett is set to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his knee and will head to injured reserve, according to The Ringer.

Because he is landing on injured reserve, this means that Garrett, the defending NFL Defensive Player of the Year, will be required to miss a minimum of four games. This report notes that the hope is that he'll be ready to return once that four-week requirement is filled.

L.A.'s next four games go as followed: vs. Giants, at Broncos, at Eagles, vs. Bills. Garrett's first game to be eligible to return would be Week 6, when the Rams host the Arizona Cardinals.

In the opening loss to San Francisco in Australia, Garrett was clearly limited due to the knee injury that had forced him to miss most of training camp. The 30-year-old notched just the fourth game of his career in which he totaled zero tackles (39 snaps played).

Postgame, Garrett admitted that he was not 100% healthy, noting, "I've got to find a way to recover and get back to the player I know I can be, and I've shown that I've been before."

"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 added, via ESPN. "I wasn't who I needed to be for my team."

Garrett is playing in his first season with the Rams after the organization pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Browns in June to acquire him. As part of the trade, L.A. sent Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick for Garrett.

Rare IR stint for Myles Garrett

One of the more underrated aspects of Garrett's game is how durable he's been over the course of his career, making this move to injured reserve that much more jarring for Los Angeles. Over the previous five seasons (2021-2025), Garrett has missed just two games, playing in 83 of a possible 85 games.

How Rams will stay afloat while Garrett's on IR?

The good news for L.A. is that they do have something of an embarrassment of riches along the defensive line. Fellow EDGE Byron Young is a Pro Bowl-caliber pass rusher who had a career-best 12 sacks last season. He'll certainly be asked to carry a bigger workload as the temporary No. 1 option off the edge for Los Angeles, while rotational pieces like 2025 third-round pick Josaiah Stewart and veteran Desjuan Johnson likely see a bump in snaps.

Beyond the edge position, however, the Rams are slated to put Aaron Donald back into this front, after the three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner officially came out of retirement on Aug. 30 to rejoin the team. Donald did not travel with the team to Melbourne, and while it seemed like he had been building towards making his debut in Week 2 when L.A. hosts the New York Giants on "Monday Night Football" anyway his return takes on even greater importance now.

Initially, Donald's presence was considered a cherry on top of a defensive front headlined by Garrett, but now he'll serve as something of an ideal replacement until he returns. If Donald is even remotely close to the player he was when he last played in 2024, he'll require loads of attention from opposing offensive lines. As we've seen in the past, that has typically freed up others to get after the quarterback.

NFL careers (entering 2026)Myles GarrettAaron Donald

Seasons

9

10

Sacks

125.5

111.0

Pro Bowl

7

10

All-Pro

7

8

DPOY

2

3

Along with Donald, defensive tackle Kobie Turner has shown the ability to generate pressure, coming off a 2025 season in which he tallied seven sacks and a career-high 55 pressures.