Myles Garrett delivered a blunt assessment after a quiet, much‑anticipated debut on Thursday night: he wasn’t the player he wanted to be. Garrett finished the Los Angeles Rams’ 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers without a tackle, sack or pressure, and called the performance “the worst version of myself that I’ve put out there.”
Garrett acknowledges health issues
Before boarding a 15‑hour flight back to Los Angeles, Garrett acknowledged his knee is more serious than he had previously suggested and said he isn’t at 100 percent. He declined to discuss specifics of the injury after the game and refused to say which knee is affected.
Garrett played only limited reps in training camp and skipped recent team practices to rest the knee, a decision he and the organization had not framed to suggest he would be unable to perform when the season began. After his debut he reiterated the need to recover and return to the level he has shown earlier in his career, saying, “I’ve got to find a way to recover and get back to the player I know I can be and I’ve shown that I’ve been before.”
On‑field results and rarity of a scoreless night
The reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, who arrived in Los Angeles in a high‑profile offseason trade, was largely a nonfactor against the 49ers. He finished the game with no tackles, sacks or pressures — only the fourth time in 135 career NFL games he has left a contest without a tackle.
Garrett described his performance in stark terms, saying, “This was the worst version of myself that I’ve put out there, and I’ve got to be better.” He added that he felt he wasn’t the player he has been when stepping onto the field in prior seasons.
Durability record and immediate questions
Durability has been a hallmark of Garrett’s recent career: he missed just two games across his final five seasons with Cleveland before being traded to Los Angeles in the summer. That context heightened expectations for his Rams debut and magnified concern after a performance hampered, he says, by lingering knee trouble.
Garrett declined to provide a timeline for recovery or further injury details. The Rams — and their pass rush plans built around the league’s top defensive player from last season — will now face immediate scrutiny about how the team manages his workload and addresses his health moving forward.
