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.
Rams Clips
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.
The narrow gap between the Seahawks and Rams may have been closed, and then some, with this week’s acquisition of defensive end Myles Garrett by L.A.
Meeting with reporters on Wednesday, Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold was asked about the move.
“Myles is a great player,” Darnold said. “Shoot, Jared Verse is a great player as well, but I don’t think we see them until Week 16, so we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
He’s right. Arguably the best current rivalry in football won’t be renewed until Christmas, with a prime-time game between the two best teams in the league from 2025.
That gives Darnold and the Seahawks 15 weeks of the regular season to not have to worry about Garrett. After a Saturday, December 19, game at the Eagles, the Seahawks will have six days to get ready for the guy who managed to rack up 23.0 sacks in 2025.
Myles Garrett was so dominant last season that he earned all 50 first-place votes for Defensive Player of the Year. He also won the award in 2023, becoming one of only nine players to win multiple DPOY awards.
Only Aaron Donald, Watt and Lawrence Taylor have more with three each.
In nine seasons, Garrett has earned seven Pro Bowls, five first-team All-Pro honors, the single-season sacks record (23 in 2025) and 125.5 career sacks.
He is only 30, with a lot of career left as he embarks on a new chapter with the Rams.
Garrett wants more despite a near certainty that he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“I see a position to solidify myself here, as well, among the very greats,” Garrett said at his introductory news conference. “I still have plenty of great years in front of me and being able to cement that legacy, not only as a football city here in L.A., but as an individual and winning DPOY and a Super Bowl or more. Those things are definitely pressing on my mind, and I have a definite bit of urgency to do it and do it right away.”
A Super Bowl ring is the one thing missing from his resume, and Garrett should have chances to accomplish that.
Myles Garrett went from the Browns to the Rams this week. While the AFC North celebrated, the NFC West went to work.
49ers offensive line coach Chris Foerster admitted the trade took him by surprise, prompting him immediately to start watching film of the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
“I just wanted to remind myself because it kind of came out of left field,” Foerster said Tuesday, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com.
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.
“He made a couple plays, and then you’re like, ‘Let me go back and look at the tape and see what it really was,’” Foerster said. “And he’s a great player. He got after us, yeah, but we did have a plan. The plan was somewhat effective, and so, there’s other ways to do things as well.”
The 49ers play the Rams in Week 1 in Melbourne, Australia, in Garrett’s debut with his new team.
The 49ers were getting a plan ready for Jared Verse. Now, they have to contend with Garrett.
“I think Myles Garrett, he’s an all-time great pass rusher,” Foerster said. “He’s an unbelievable talent, but it’s still an edge rusher that you have to take care of.
“He’s an outstanding football player, and he’s going to be a challenge for us to take care of. But we had a plan last year. You’re going to do the best you can, and everybody has good players, and he’s a great player. And it’s good for them, helps them, and it’ll be a good challenge for us.”
In 2025, Myles Garrett set the single-season sack record. Not many (if any) of his 23.0 sacks happened when the 5-12 Browns had a multi-score lead in the second half of a game.
With the Rams, Garrett should have plenty of chances to chase quarterbacks who are desperate to move the ball through the air late in a losing effort.
“That did play into the decision as well,” Garrett told reporters on Tuesday. “Knowing I’ll have the ability late in games to pin my ears back, not just because we need a play to be made, but because we have the lead and it’s obvious passing downs. Being able to make plays to win the game for us, those are things that appeal to me and I’m sure appeal to all of us as D-linemen. That is something I really look forward to.”
It should happen. The Rams have a great offense. The defense should be better in 2026. They should be in position, on a somewhat regular basis, to let Garrett turn himself loose in an effort to chase (and possibly pass) the record he set last year, in his final stint with the Browns.
When the Rams traded for Myles Garrett, they sent one of their top young players to Cleveland as part of the deal.
The 2024 AP defensive rookie of the year, Jared Verse had been making a name for himself in Los Angeles. But now that he’s no longer with the club, the Rams are offering fans a little bit of consolation.
The Rams announced on Wednesday that the club is offering a free exchange for recently purchased Verse jerseys.
The announcement notes that if you purchased a Verse jersey in person at the team’s draft party or official team store since the club launched its new uniforms in April, you’re eligible to exchange that jersey for another one of your choice.
Additionally, if you purchased any Verse jersey in the past 90 days from ramsfanshop.com, nflshop.com, or fanatics.com, that jersey may also be exchanged for free.
Visit the Rams website for additional details on the exchange process.
