Myles Garrett finally got to play defense with the team that traded for him. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams opened training camp with their new edge rusher lined up alongside the rest of the starting defense for the first time, and everyone who watched had something to say about it.
Garrett joined the Rams in June as part of one of the biggest trades of the NFL offseason. He didn’t do much on the field before that — a few individual reps during the tail end of the offseason program, nothing more. Sunday changed that. It was his first real look in team drills, and according to the Washington Post, it was also the first time the Rams had their full defense on the field together with Garrett on the edge.
Myles Garrett. LA Ram. 🐏@Flash_Garrett x @RamsNFL pic.twitter.com/6E6ghJu0jI
— NFL (@NFL) July 28, 2026
Defensive coordinator Chris Shula didn’t hide his excitement. “We’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time,” Shula told reporters, “and it definitely lived up to it,” according to the team’s official site.
The Rams weren’t in full pads. There were no live periods, no contact. Just shells, shorts, and a defense trying to get its timing down. Garrett still stood out. He broke into the backfield on simulated rushes. He leaped to knock down a screen pass. None of it needed pads to look real.
Cornerback Trent McDuffie, who joined the Rams this offseason in his own blockbuster trade, was one of the players watching Garrett up close for the first time. “When he’s out there, you can just feel his aura,” McDuffie said, via Greg Beachem of the Associated Press. “He’s gigantic. He’s a monster. But I’m just excited to get him out here and get him loose and get him going, because I know he has a little chip on his shoulder, and I know he’s excited about being here, so I think that just fires everybody else up.”
How the Rams Landed Garrett
The trade that brought Garrett to Los Angeles closed in early June. The Rams sent outside linebacker Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick to Cleveland in exchange for the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, according to NFL.com. It ranks among the biggest trades in league history involving a defensive player.
Garrett spent nine seasons in Cleveland after the Browns took him with the No. 1 overall pick in 2017. He leaves as the franchise’s all-time sack leader, and he’s coming off a 2025 season in which he set the NFL’s single-season sack record with 23. Two-time Defensive Player of the Year, five-time First-Team All-Pro, seven-time Pro Bowler — the résumé is why the Rams gave up as much as they did to get him.
The move fits a pattern for Los Angeles. This is the same front office that pulled off the Matthew Stafford trade in 2021, a gamble that ended with a Super Bowl parade. The Garrett deal carries the same kind of weight, and it wasn’t the only major swing the Rams took this offseason — they also added cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson to a defense that faded down the stretch in 2025 after a strong start, following a 12-win season and an NFC Championship Game appearance.
Garrett has already shifted his focus to the season ahead. Speaking at an event where the Rams revealed their new alternate uniforms, Garrett said he’s looking forward to measuring his new team against the best. “I want the champs,” Garrett said, according to The Athletic’s Nate Atkins, referencing the Seattle Seahawks — the reigning NFC West and Super Bowl champions.
What Comes Next
One padless practice in July doesn’t decide anything. But it’s the first real data point the Rams have on how their new-look front seven might function once the games start to count. Garrett is moving from the 4-3 scheme he played in Cleveland to more of an outside linebacker role in Los Angeles’ defense, a change that will keep getting tested as camp moves into padded practices and preseason games.
For now, the early returns match the hype that followed the trade all offseason. Sunday was just the first practice. The Rams have a lot more camp, and a lot more football, before they find out what Garrett’s addition is really worth.
