Myles Garrett is returning to Rams practice after 7-game absence because of knee injury

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Myles Garrett will return to practice this week with the Los Angeles Rams after missing the past seven games with a knee injury.

Rams coach Sean McVay said Monday that the team is opening Garrett's 21-day practice window to return from injured reserve . The defensive end won the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award last season with Cleveland before he joined the Rams last June in a blockbuster trade .

McVay wouldn't predict how long Garrett would need to prepare for his return to the lineup. The Rams (4-4) have won two straight for the first time in their up-and-down season as they head to Washington on Sunday.

“I want to be careful to (not) even set any sort of expectations,” McVay said. “I think just taking it a day at a time is going to be the best way that we can approach it. I think that’s the right thing for him, and really just to see how he responds. But I think it’s a real positive that we’re starting his clock.”

Garrett played in the Rams' season opener in Australia two months ago but was ineffective and made no tackles. Afterward, he acknowledged the true significance of the knee injury that kept him out for long stretches of his first training camp with Los Angeles.

Garrett underwent knee surgery shortly after the Rams returned from Melbourne. The team had given no indication how quickly Garrett would return as his absence stretched to the midpoint of the season, but McVay is hopeful his prize offseason acquisition will be back on the field shortly.

Garrett is third among active NFL players with 125 1/2 career sacks. He was the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 and 2025, and he has earned seven Pro Bowl selections.

The Rams traded Pro Bowl edge rusher Jared Verse and three high draft picks to the Browns for Garrett — and their pass rush has been meager in his absence.

Los Angeles is 27th in the league in both sacks (12) and in sacks per pass play. Byron Young leads the Rams with 4 1/2 sacks, while nobody else has more than two.

Garrett has yet to play with Aaron Donald, who was drawn out of his 2 1/2-year retirement partly by the opportunity to play alongside one of his few generational peers in defensive line play. Donald didn't travel to Australia, and he has made 12 tackles in six games on the Rams' line.

McVay also said the Rams likely will open the practice window for pass-catching tight end Terrance Ferguson, who has been out since September with an ankle injury.

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