Rams’ disastrous start to 2026 season gets even worse after the latest Myles Garrett injury update that no one wanted to hear
The Rams were hoping Myles Garrett was the missing piece to another Super Bowl run, but he will now miss the next four games, at minimum after his knee injury required surgery.
The Los Angeles Rams’ disastrous start to the 2026 season kept going on Sunday whenever it was revealed that standout pass rusher Myles Garrett will miss the next four games after being placed on IR due to knee surgery.
Garrett’s knee bothered him throughout most of the offseason, and it definitely bothered him in Week 1 against the 49ers where the Rams were blown out and Garrett basically was not a factor whatsoever. The news was broken by ESPN’s Adam Schefter ahead of the first slate of games on Sunday, and now the Rams face a big loss in the pass rush department with Myles Garrett out and the awaited return of Aaron Donald.
The good news is that even though Garrett is the best defensive player in the NFL, the Rams still have a very good defensive line composed of Poona Ford, Kobie Turner, Byron Young, and Braden Fisk. And obviously once Aaron Donald returns, it’ll up the ante even more.
However, they brought Garrett in to be an absolute disruptor, to be a game changer, and now the Rams don’t have that. And whenever you’re missing that kind of weapon on the field, it will certainly impact your team in a net-negative fashion.
We’ll see if Garrett can return after the minimum of four games, but this could hold him out even longer.
Rams’ immediate schedule actually plays in their favor when it comes to the playoff raace
Looking at the Rams schedule, they actually have it okay in the next four games because two of their opponents are AFC opponents.
They have the Giants in Week 2, the Broncos in Week 3, the Eagles in Week 4, and then the Bills in Week 5. Obviously the Giants and the Eagles contests are important because they’re NFC teams, and that’s where playoff tiebreakers will come in handy.
The Rams play the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6 when Garrett is eligible to return.
But the Broncos and Bills are AFC teams. So while those could play a role in a common opponents tiebreaker, they won’t play as near as big a role in much of the tiebreakers, if anything at all.
So while this is not good news for the Rams, fortunately it happened early in the season to where if there is any kind of blowback or setback, they have plenty of time to adjust down the road. But at the same time, they still have a good enough roster up front and a big enough break in the schedule to help manage while Garrett heals and gets ready to return.
