Myles Garrett set the NFL record with 23 sacks last season, but he won’t be satisfied until he has the career sack record as well.
Garrett said after the Browns traded him to the Rams this week that he’s friendly with Hall of Fame defensive end Bruce Smith and would love to break Smith’s NFL record of 200 career sacks.
“There’s a big goal out there, that’s 200,” Garrett said in an interview with the Rams’ YouTube channel. “I want to eclipse that, or I want to make it close. I have a good relationship with the guy who has that record, and being able to go get that one would mean a lot to myself, and to him as well.”
The 30-year-old Garrett has 125.5 sacks so far in his career. Smith had 106 sacks at the same age, so Garrett is well ahead of Smith’s pace. But Smith played until he was 40 years old, something not many players can do. So catching Smith won’t be easy for Garrett.
Garrett made clear that he’d love to be known as the greatest pass rusher of all time, but he’d love even more to win a Super Bowl.
“The GOAT talk and all that, I’m sure that will come and go along the way, but I want to win,” Garrett said. “I want to win early and often.”
Rams Clips
The Rams’ trade for Myles Garrett on Monday made the reigning Defensive Player of the Year the NFC West’s problem.
While the other three teams in the AFC North were celebrating, the 49ers, Cardinals and Seahawks were already watching film on the Rams’ new edge rusher.
49ers left tackle Trent Williams was asked about Garrett joining the Rams and summed things up for the rest of the entire division.
“It sucks,” Williams said to laughter, via video from the team.
In the 49ers’ 26-8 win over the Browns last season, Garrett had a sack and three quarterback hits. He did not have a sack and only one quarterback hit in the Browns’ 19-17 victory over the 49ers in 2023.
Garrett, 30, set the NFL single-season sacks record last season with 23 and has 125.5 for his career.
Yes, the Rams and defensive end Myles Garrett have a new deal.
As mentioned earlier, it’s a five-year contract, covering 2026 through 2030. It replaces the deal Garrett had signed in 2025 with the Browns, adding no new years.
Here are the full terms, per a source with knowledge of the contract:
1. Signing bonus: $35.7 million.
2. 2026 base salary: $1.3 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2027 option bonus: $30.145 million, guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in 2027.
4. 2027 base salary: $1.345 million, guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in 2027.
5. 2027 per-game roster bonus: $510,000 total, guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in 2027 (but must be earned).
6. 2028 option bonus: $19.49 million, guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in 2027.
7. 2028 base salary: $1.345 million, guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in 2027.
8. 2028 per-game roster bonus: $510,000 total, guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in 2027 (but must be earned).
9. 2029 option bonus: $21.49 million.
10. 2029 offseason roster bonus: $8 million.
11. 2029 base salary: $10 million.
12. 2029 per-game roster bonus: $510,000 total.
13. 2030 option bonus: $16.49 million.
14. 2030 offseason roster bonus: $8 million.
15. 2030 base salary: $15 million.
16. 2030 per-game roster bonus: $510,000 total.
The five-year deal has an average of $35.8 million at signing. It’s the same total payout from 2026 through 2030 as his prior contract with the Browns.
Of the total amount, $37 million is fully guaranteed at signing. Another $62 million is guaranteed for injury at signing. The payments become fully guaranteed in 2027.
In comparison to his prior deal, the guarantee drops in 2027 by $10.7 million. The 2028 guarantee increases by $7.2 million.
As a practical matter, it’s a three-year deal with team-held options for 2029 and 2030. The $8 million roster bonus in each season will force the Rams to make a quick decision.
The Rams signed seventh-round defensive tackle Tim Keenan III on Thursday.
His signing leaves only one player in the five-player class unsigned. First-round quarterback Ty Simpson still has not agreed to terms.
The Rams drafted Keenan in the seventh round, with the 232nd overall choice. The former Alabama nose tackle is expected to back up Poona Ford.
Keenan started 12 games for Alabama last season, recording 16 tackles, three tackles for a loss and two sacks.
In his four seasons with the Crimson Tide, Keenan totaled 95 tackles, 12.5 sacks for loss and 5.5 sacks.
The Cowboys and Rams do not play in the preseason, but they both train in Southern California. Therefore, they often have joint practices during training camp, including in 2025 in Oxnard.
They will again this year, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Thursday.
The date was not announced.
It will give new Rams edge rusher Myles Garrett a chance to practice against his hometown team. Garrett grew up in Arlington, Texas, which is home of AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys play.
The Cowboys will also have a joint practice with the Saints, who already announced their intention to work with Dallas. The Saints and Cowboys will practice in Oxnard while the Saints are on the West Coast for a preseason game against the Rams in the second week of the exhibition season.
The Saints are coached by the Cowboys former quarterback and offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore.
As the Rams worked through a trade for defensive end Myles Garrett, they didn’t have time to do a new contract. They now have.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Rams and Garrett have worked out a new deal. It’s a five-year deal covering 2026 through 2030, with available options through 2038. (The options are surely present for cap purposes.)
We’re in the process of tracking down the details. The key question is whether and to what extent the new-money APY will change. His latest deal set a new standard for non-quarterbacks, at $40 million per year. Since then, the bar has moved to $50 million.
The signing bonus is $35.7 million. The salary will be at least $1.3 million, pushing his minimum compensation package for 2026 to $37 million.
That exceeds the $31.5 million total compensation he was due to make under his prior deal by at least $5.5 million. (Of that amount, $1 million was in the form of per-game roster bonuses. The new deal possibly has per-game roster bonuses for 2026, too.)
The question is whether and to what extent the remaining guarantees were carried into the new deal. Apparently, the future guarantees have been reduced (if not eliminated).
Of course, the guarantees don’t really matter. After giving up Jared Verse, a first-, second-, and third-round pick to get Garrett, it’s not as if they’ll be cutting him after a year or two.
We’ll provide a full breakdown once we have the total numbers.
New Browns head coach Todd Monken did not get to meet Myles Garrett in person before the club traded him to the Rams earlier this week.
But Cleveland received Jared Verse as part of the deal, and the third-year edge rusher has already gotten to the building. That’s got Monken excited about the future.
“I mean, he’s gonna fit us like a glove,” Monken said in his Wednesday press conference, via transcript from the team.
“You wish you had unlimited time to meet with him and try to catch him up to speed. But just his willingness to get here, be here this morning to get into meetings and be on the practice field says a lot about him.”
Monken had to coach against Verse last year when he was Baltimore’s offensive coordinator.
“[H]e was one of those guys where you certainly had a game plan for and I think he’s only going to continue to ascend,” Monken said.
“[C]ertainly, his tape speaks for itself. I mean, being a Defensive Rookie of the Year and then a Pro Bowler. How many guys have done that? It’s a pretty elite group he’s in.”
Verse, 25, recorded 7.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and 27 quarterback hits to reach his second consecutive Pro Bowl in 2025. He also had a sack, three TFLs, and seven QB hits in three postseason games.
During his time with the Browns, Myles Garrett earned all the individual achievements a defensive end could have. Now he’s setting his sights on team goals.
After he was traded to the Rams, Garrett said on the team’s YouTube channel that he’s now in a place where he thinks he can win a Super Bowl.
“I’ve done pretty much everything I set out to do in Cleveland, I’d given my all and my everything, and I’m very fortunate for my time there,” Garrett said. “But it’s always been about winning and I want to win a championship and I’m happy to be part of a franchise that’s in a position to do that, and do that for years to come.”
Garrett said he was drawn to the Rams because he thinks head coach Sean McVay and General Manager Les Snead have built a team that can contend for years to come.
“It starts with Sean and Les making this an appealing destination,” Garrett said.
Garrett only made the playoffs twice while he was with the Browns, and never advanced past the divisional round. His expectations with the Rams are a lot higher than that.
Talk that Aaron Donald could come out of retirement and return to the Rams had Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp reaching out to Donald directly, and telling him not to do it.
Kupp told Rich Eisen that he reached out to Donald and told him he needs to stay retired.
“I already texted him and told him he’s not allowed. So we’re good,” Kupp joked. “I texted Aaron and said, ‘Don’t even think about it.’ I left it at that, so we’re good. I’m not worried about it. I already nipped it in the bud. No one has to worry.”
Kupp said the Seahawks know they’re going to have their hands full this season with the players already on the Rams, and an already tough defense adding Donald is something Kupp does not want to see.
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I love Aaron. He’s such a good football player, great dude.I loved taking the field with him in L.A. I don’t know what’s going to happen. That would be crazy. He’s a very, very good football player. I don’t care how old he is, how long he’s not played, Aaron Donald is Aaron Donald. But it doesn’t matter because I told him he can’t.”
Kupp and Donald were teammates on the Rams from 2017 to 2023. Kupp has never played against Donald, and wants to keep it that way.
George Kittle’s goal from the moment he tore his Achilles was to get back for the season opener. He said Wednesday that he remains on track to get back for Week 1.
“My Achilles is doing great, no setbacks in my recovery,” Kittle said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “Checking all the boxes, doing everything I’m supposed to do. My surgeon’s super happy. My physical therapist in L.A., who works with him, is super happy. Niners are happy. I’m happy.”
Kittle tore his right Achilles during a Jan. 11 playoff game against the Eagles. That gave him only eight months for surgery and rehab, prompting an initial fear that Kittle would miss some of the 2026 season.
Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery on Kittle’s Achilles in Los Angeles the week of the injury, and he told Kittle immediately afterward that Kittle had “a chance” to make it back for Week 1.
“I mean, it definitely ignites something and makes you push for it,” Kittle said. “So, we’re on track; we’re ahead of schedule.”
The long round trip to and from Melbourne, Australia, for the first game complicates Kittle’s timeline, but he calls it “just another challenge.”
Kittle made a seventh career Pro Bowl last season despite playing only 11 regular-season games due to hamstring and ankle injuries.
