The Los Angeles Rams sit at 2-3 and eighth in the NFL power rankings largely because star pass rusher Myles Garrett has missed nearly the entire season recovering from knee surgery, prompting head coach Sean McVay to hold off on starting his 21-day practice window.
That slide from early optimism to a sub-.500 record captures how quickly roster construction can stall when a marquee acquisition is sidelined. The Rams entered the spring aiming to build a championship contender around Garrett, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year who broke the single-season sack record with 23 takedowns last year while playing for the Cleveland Browns. To secure him ahead of a June 1 transaction, Los Angeles parted ways with edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round draft pick, a 2028 second-round selection, and a 2029 third-round pick.
From Preseason Polls to an Eighth-Place Standing
An ESPN panel of more than a dozen analysts initially placed the Rams at the very top of their preseason power rankings. A month into the campaign, that same panel dropped Los Angeles to seventh under the summary header Not a superteam… yet.
By this week, the team slipped to eighth overall following a 37-34 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Coach McVay provides an update on Myles Garrett. pic.twitter.com/ouj3u4nDcy
Analyst Sarah Barshop identified the team’s primary defensive flaw in simple terms: Missing Myles Garrett.
Without their star disruptor, the Rams have accumulated just eight sacks through five games, tied for the sixth-lowest total across the league. NFL.com analyst Nick Shook placed Los Angeles even lower at twelfth, pointing to a leaky run defense and untimely penalties in the defensive backfield that have repeatedly compounded their troubles.
The Knee Injury and the Australia Opener
Trouble began brewing during training camp, where a lingering knee issue already limited Garrett’s practice participation. He managed to suit up for the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Australia, logging 40 defensive snaps without recording a single counting statistic before bowing out.
Medical evaluations revealed the need for arthroscopic knee surgery, leading the team to place him on injured reserve. In the four games immediately following his absence, the Rams managed two wins before dropping their Monday night thriller to Buffalo, where Harrison Mevis missed a 48-yard field goal attempt in extra time before the Bills secured victory on a 45-yard kick.
Sean McVay and the 21-Day Return Deadline
By mid-September, as Garrett shed his crutches, McVay offered an upbeat assessment of his progress. He had crutches yesterday, and then he was walking without crutches today, so he’s like Wolverine, healing fast,
McVay said at the time. Yet the coach drew a hard line in the same breath, stating that Garrett would miss a minimum of four weeks and that the team would not rush his recovery.
Those four weeks have now passed, but McVay confirmed that the team will not open Garrett’s 21-day practice window ahead of Sunday’s home game against the Arizona Cardinals. Explaining the reasoning behind the cautious approach, McVay noted that the surgery was successful and the recovery progresses week-to-week based on comfort, emphasizing that there’s a difference between return to play and return to performance.
Opening the practice window triggers a binding 21-day clock for a player to be activated from injured reserve or remain shelved for the remainder of the year. Activating Garrett before his knee can support elite-level play would force the Rams into a high-stakes gamble against a fixed calendar. Media projections from reporters like Jonathan Jones of The Athletic initially targeted a return against the Cardinals or the following week against the Raiders, with other reports suggesting an absence stretching as far as Week 9. Instead, McVay continues to prioritize long-term recovery over immediate rankings.
