What is the Rams' Defensive Ceiling With Myles Garrett

The Los Angeles Rams showed that they are all-in on the 2026 season when they traded for edge rusher Myles Garrett on Monday. While the Rams had to give up Jared Verse and draft picks in the process, Garrett helps the Rams win now.

Anytime a player like Garrett changes teams, the focus immediately shifts to what kind of impact he can make with his new team. The Rams are obviously hoping Garrett can take their defense to new heights and help them win a Super Bowl.

It’s disappointing that the Rams had to include Verse in the trade for Garrett. However, the thought process is very similar to when the Rams traded Jared Goff for Matthew Stafford. Verse is one of the best up-and-coming pass rushers in the NFL. At the same time, he is still a developing player. Garrett accelerates that development and better fits the Rams’ timeline.

Verse had big shoes to fill when he arrived in Los Angeles, becoming the face of the defense in place of Aaron Donald. He was a big reason why the defense wasn’t as bad as many thought it would be in 2024.

However, it’s not every day that teams get the opportunity to trade for a player of Myles Garrett’s caliber. Last season, Garrett saw more chips and double teams than any other player at a 36.6 percent rate, but still broke the single-season sack record. He also ranked fourth in pressure rate and first in sack rate.

One area where Verse struggled was turning his pressures into sacks. While he had a 15.3 percent pressure rate and 80 pressures, his pressure-to-sack rate of 8.4 percent is the fourth-lowest in the NFL since he was drafted.

Player	Pressures	Sacks	P/S Rate
Aidan Hutchinson	100	14.5	14.5%
Josh Hines-Allen	95	8	8.4%
Will Anderson	93	12	12.9%
Myles Garrett	84	23	27.4%
Danielle Hunter	83	15	18.1%
Jared Verse	80	7.5	9.4%

Verse is among the best edge rushers when it comes to pressures and impacting throws. Still, he struggles to create those negative plays that are so crucial for a defense. Among the top edge rushers in pressures, Verse and Josh Hines-Allen are the only two below a 10 percent pressure to sack rate.

When it comes to generating pressure, Verse was one of the best. According to Brandon Thorn’s Trench Warfare Substack, Verse had a True Pressure Rate of 54.8. However, he had a sack score of just 6.75. That’s not to say that Verse isn’t good or doesn’t impact plays. He’s simply better at creating pressures than sacks.

Player	True Pressure Rate	Sack Score	PR Snaps/Sack	Pressure Quality Ratio
Aidan Hutchinson	63.0	14.25	38.1	0.90
Myles Garrett	47.5	21.25	19.2	1.33
Will Anderson	67.5	10.75	34.1	1.91
Danielle Hunter	53.0	15.75	29.4	1.21
Jared Verse	54.8	6.75	61.1	0.98

There is context needed here of course. Verse is one of the strongest players in the NFL and relies on his bull rush to get to the quarterback. However, while that’s good for disrupting the pocket, by the time he reaches the quarterback, he’s often still contained by the offensive lineman.

It’s hard to get to the quarterback when the path is through a player rather than around them.

Good example of Rams pressure affecting the throw.

Verse with the bull rush, knocks Goff off his spot. On the other side, Byron Young stabs Penei Sewell and then uses a long arm to get around the edge. Turner wraps around inside.

For it to work...it all has to work. pic.twitter.com/1TTJoPxnwJ
— Blaine Grisak 💭 (@BGMediaOnSI) December 15, 2025

To take advantage of some of the chaos that Verse created, the Rams relied on a lot of stunts and twists in their pass rush plan. The Rams had the highest stunt rate in the NFL at 29.7 percent.

That’s likely not going to change significantly with Garrett. With that said, Garrett adds more balance. Chris Shula can still out-scheme opponents with stunts, but Garrett also allows the Rams to win in cases where the scheme can’t. Much like Aaron Donald or Matthew Stafford in 2021, he can make the scheme right even when it’s wrong.

Another aspect of this is how the Rams can approach their coverage in the secondary. Earlier this offseason, the Rams traded for cornerback Trent McDuffie and signed Jaylen Watson. Last year, the Rams were one of the zone heavier teams in the NFL. They operated in zone coverage at a rate of 80.5 percent. That’s not a bad thing. For comparison, the Seattle Seahawks were right below them at 79.6 percent.

The Rams also used disguised coverages frequently. Much like how the Rams use stunts, they will likely continue to operate that way in some capacity. At the same time, they may be able to mix in more man and press coverage than they have in the past.

When the Rams used man coverage last season, they pressed their cornerbacks at a 51.9 percent rate. That was the sixth-highest rate in the NFL. The idea behind that was to buy a little extra time for the pass rush. However, given that the Rams were trying to do that with Darious Williams and Emmanuel Forbes on the outside, it didn’t work as well. They didn’t have the type of cornerbacks to play press-man coverage. Williams was a smaller cornerback and Forbes has a lighter frame and is better playing off where he can react to the ball.

Adding McDuffie and Watson will allow the Rams to continue to rush with four like they want to, but play more press coverage. Shula doesn’t want to blitz as it creates a void in the defense and can lead to explosives. The Rams had the second-lowest blitz rate in the NFL in 2025 ahead of only Vic Fangio and the Philadelphia Eagles.

With the additions of McDuffie and Garrett, the Rams will be more dangerous rushing four and better equipped to play tighter coverage when needed. This is still the Vic Fangio and Brandon Staley defense at its core. However, adding Garrett and McDuffie marries the pass rush and secondary together. That wasn’t the case last season, when the Rams had all of their eggs in one basket.

McDuffie and Garrett will allow the Rams to be less predictable and simply give Shula more options. The downfall of the Rams’ defense last season was the secondary. While they started the season strong, it was always going to be their Achilles heel with so much pressure on the pass rush to produce. The Rams have married the two units closer together this offseason so that they can be effective against a wide variety of offenses.

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