The Los Angeles Rams expect to pass on activating Myles Garrett from injured reserve next week (Week 6). That is when they will face the Arizona Cardinals.
Garrett, the Rams’ blockbuster trade acquisition is on injured reserve following arthroscopic knee surgery. The two-time and reigning Defensive Player of the Year will be eligible to come off of the list after Week 5.
That is unfortunately not expected to happen, though, according to head coach Sean McVay.
“He’s making good progress,” McVay told reporters on October 10 in his final media availability ahead of the Rams’ “Monday Night Football” showdown agains the Buffalo Bills in Week 5.
“What I will say is it’s not ready to say whether we’ll open that window or not. In talking with Neil [ElAtrache], the surgery went really well. He’s making good progress. As far as what that timeline looks like, it’s kind of week-to-week in terms of how he feels. But I would say it’s more likely that we do not start his clock next week.”
McVay continued when pressed, “One of the things that when I talked to Neil ElAtrache–and I think it’s a great way to articulate it, and you’ve heard me kind of say it before–it’s like there’s a difference between return to play and return to performance.
“And when you do something like this, let’s put him in a good position, return to performance. And so, a part of that will be once he gets to those benchmarks where he’s hitting all the benchmarks that we want. But then, let’s physically put him in a position to do things that are in alignment with playing football. See how the knee responds, which we expect it to respond well. And then, that’s when you can really start talking about, ‘Okay, he’s going to play for us and things of that nature.”
Garrett has a projected six-week recovery timeline.
That makes the Rams Week 8 home matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers a more likely target date.
Rams Expect Rapid Ramp-Up for Myles Garrett
McVay did offer some encouraging insight on Garrett. He said that he does not expect Garrett’s lack of practice time in training camp to hinder his ability to his the “return to performance” benchmark.
He said “a lot” of the lack of practice time was due to their “trying to manage” the injury. McVay called it “irritation” on Saturday.
McVay hopes it is a non-issue moving forward following the surgery.
“It’s really just how quickly can the alien get up to speed for us,” McVay said. “But no, I think because we got that fixed, and because he’s feeling so good, I think that’ll be an accelerated process. But him actually doing football-related activities and drills will be very important for us to put him in a position to join the group and be the guy that we’re accustomed to seeing and that he wants to be for this team as well.”
The Rams got one game out of Garrett and nothing in th box score from Garrett so far. That is hardly the return anyone expected. Still, Garrett remains on track to contribute for most of the 2026 season for the Rams.
LA Rams Expected to Make Telling Decision on Myles Garrett