Myles Garrett is participating in Los Angeles Rams OTAs this week as he gets used to a new defense.
The NFL’s single-season rushing record holder spent all of his first nine seasons in Cleveland in a traditional defensive role in the Browns’ 4-3 scheme. Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula runs a 3-4 scheme, so there are questions about how Garrett will fit into the plans or perhaps more so how those plans will change with the NFL’s best defensive back in town right now.
Garrett participated as an outside linebacker in Monday’s individual drills — watching from the sidelines during 11-on-11. Shula did not indicate that he plans to ensure that the runner will remain a terror himself.
“Obviously we’ll still have our principles … but we’re going to let him do what he does best and we all know exactly what he does best,” Shula said via the team’s official website. “You’re not going to take Michael Jordan, LeBron, all those guys and pull them out of their comfort zone. We’re going to work with him and put him in the best spots that we think he and the defense will be successful at.”
Read: He won’t get much coverage.
Garrett’s arrival may require some tweaking from Shula on some of his coverages and OLB drops — after all, you want the best sack artist in the game to get behind the quarterback as often as possible — but a complete overhaul isn’t necessary. Jared Verse dropped in coverage 17 times in 2025, according to Next Generation Stats, while going after the QB on 96.6 percent of his snaps (Garrett dropped five times for a 98.9% rate with the Browns last year).
Garrett and cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson’s offseason additions give the Rams defense better weapons after last year’s collapse. Now it’s up to Shula to distribute them properly.