Cardinals HC Mike LaFleur Didn't Flinch After Rams Traded for Myles Garrett

TEMPE — Myles Garrett is the talk of the NFL at the moment, and the Arizona Cardinals will be seeing a bit more of him as of late.

First-year head coach Mike LaFleur couldn't care less about the Los Angeles Rams' newest pass rusher.

"Just the thought of game-planning against any really good football player. So, again, the great thing is I get the answer it just like I did the last one. You're not really concerned about that right now," LaFleur said when asked about game-planning for one of the league's best players.

"That's not what kept me up at night yesterday. What kept me up was, hey, we got two really good team periods, we got a two minute, let's see how that two minute goes, and then we'll go from there. So, like all great players, whether it be offense or defense, you got to adjust, and you got to game-plan for those guys, but not my concern."

Trey McBride dove just a bit deeper on his feelings towards the trade, you can check that out here.

Garrett was sent packing from the Cleveland Browns in exchange for Jared Verse and three draft picks: A future first, second and third-round pick.

The future ramifications for the Cardinals are real in terms of how 2027's potential pursuit of a quarterback goes. Yet in the immediate, Arizona's chances of realistically competing for a divisional crown just got even longer.

The Cardinals now find themselves in an NFC West that holds some of football's best teams in the 49ers, Seahawks and Rams. That statement was true before the Garrett trade, though the division's latest star-studded arrival puts the Cardinals in an NFC West with the defending Super Bowl champs and now the frontrunners for the next Lombardi.

Is that, at all, intimidating for LaFleur?

"Nope," he said before he asked to expand.

"Because it's not what we're concerned about right now. The season's too long. That stuff just flat-out doesn't matter, like if we're not just focused on us right now — and even when it gets in the season, like the best teams, they're worried about themselves. I want them concerned about themselves," LaFleur said.

"It's our job as coaches when we get into that week to see, hey, what guys are available this week for us? What guys are available for them? So many things happen within a season, within the division, within the conference, within the NFL, that like, why worry about that stuff right now? We got enough stuff to worry about in terms of getting our systems in, making sure that these guys understand what we're asking from them, from a standard perspective, how hard they're playing, and then techniques, what we're asking them to do.

"What's going to happen in September is going to happen, and I'm not concerned about it, and I hope our guys aren't either right now."

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