DE Garrett says he's not 100% after dud in Rams' loss to 49ers

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  Sarah BarshopSep 11, 2026, 01:51 AM ET

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  Sarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. She then moved to Houston to cover the Texans. She came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Myles Garrett called his performance in the Los Angeles Rams' 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers "the worst version of myself that I've put out there," saying his knee was not 100% healthy going into the game.

Garrett missed most of training camp while dealing with what Rams coach Sean McVay called swelling in his knee. Garrett declined to say which knee is injured but wore a sleeve on his left leg during several practices.

"I've got to be better," Garrett said. "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."

Asked what his focus was going into Week 2, Garrett said, "Getting healthy."

"When I was out there, I was a little bit more focused on myself and trying to stay healthy than what they were doing, and that showed," Garrett said. "I wasn't who I needed to be for my team."

Garrett, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, was traded to Los Angeles this offseason. He set the single-season sack record last season with the Cleveland Browns.

The loss to the 49ers was Garrett's first game without a tackle since Week 11 of the 2024 season and just the fourth of his career, according to ESPN Research.

Asked whether Garrett was 100% healthy, McVay said, "To my knowledge, yeah." When McVay first acknowledged Garrett's injury during training camp, the coach said Garrett told him he was "feeling about 85%" healthy.

The Rams pressured 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy on just 7 of 36 dropbacks (19%), their third-lowest rate since the beginning of last season. Garrett had just three individual pressures, according to ESPN tracking.

Niners left tackle Trent Williams said he "couldn't tell" that Garrett wasn't 100% healthy because "he's still really hard to block."

"I mean, he's one of those players where it's just, you know, no matter what he's going through, it's still not an easy out for anybody," Williams said.

San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said he thought the 49ers' offensive line "did an unbelievable job" against the Rams' defense. He said the team did not tweak its plan for Garrett after learning defensive tackle Aaron Donald wasn't playing.

"Not really," Shanahan said. "You can't really balance it out. We had to cheat the ends the same way, and it didn't change any of the game plan."