When a Franchise Goes All-In, You Better Have Your Best Player on the Edge: Why the Rams' Myles Garrett Gamble Might Be the Boldest Move of This Generation

You know what I love about football? It's not complicated when you get down to it. You need to be able to run the ball, stop the run, rush the quarterback, and cover receivers. That's it. That's the whole game, really. Everything else is just details. The Los Angeles Rams looked at their roster this offseason and said, "We're winning a Super Bowl right now, but we're missing something on that edge," and they went out and got the best pass rusher in the league. That's not complicated either. That's smart football.

Myles Garrett is having a season that frankly reminds me of some of those dominant edge rushers from history. When you watch the tape, and I mean really watch it, you see a man who understands leverage better than almost anyone who's ever played the position. He's got this way of using his hands that's almost like he's playing a different sport than the offensive tackle across from him. He wins with power, he wins with speed, he wins with technique, and that's what separates the truly great ones from the really good ones. The 2025 Defensive Player of the Year is playing at a level that doesn't come around very often, and the Rams said, "We're bringing him to Los Angeles."

Think about this for a second. Matthew Stafford just won the MVP award. Let that sink in. A quarterback who came to the Rams on trade, who everybody said was a product of getting out of Detroit, has now won the most prestigious individual award in professional football. That tells you something about this organization's ability to acquire talent and put pieces together. Now you've got Stafford, this generational talent at quarterback who finally has all the weapons he needs, and you're adding one of the best defensive players in the game to that team. This is what happens when a franchise says, "We're not satisfied. We're not comfortable. We're going back to get ours."

The weakness they were addressing was real. Look, you can have all the offensive firepower in the world, but if you can't get to the quarterback, if you can't create pressure without sending six or seven guys, you're going to have problems in January when it matters. The Rams understood something that great coaches have understood for generations. You win football games with your pass rush. Your pass rush creates everything else. It creates coverage sacks, it creates mistakes, it creates turnovers, and it puts the other team's offense in impossible situations. They had some good defensive pieces, but they needed that one guy, that dominant force on the edge who can get to the quarterback in one-on-one situations.

What strikes me most about this move is the philosophy behind it. Some organizations, they look at the salary cap and they say, "Well, we can't afford to do this." Other organizations, they look at a Super Bowl window and they say, "We have to do this." The Rams are the second kind of organization right now. They're saying, "Look, we've got Matthew Stafford at the peak of his powers, we've got the weapons around him, we've got a coaching staff that knows how to win in January, and we've got the chance to build something special." They're not counting pennies. They're counting rings.

I've seen this before, and it never gets old. When a franchise decides that right now is the moment, that this is the window, and they're going to push all the chips to the middle of the table. It happened with the Patriots when they added Corey Dillon in 2004. It happened with the Seahawks when they added Richard Sherman and the Legion of Boom pieces around Russell Wilson. It happened with the Chiefs when Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes decided to just keep adding to build a dynasty. The Rams are doing it again, except this time they're doing it with a quarterback who's already proven he can win a Super Bowl and an edge rusher who's playing at an MVP level on defense.

The relationship between an elite quarterback and an elite pass rusher is interesting because they don't face each other, but they sure do affect each other's game. Stafford gets to be the quarterback of a team where the defense is creating pressure and turnovers. That takes the burden off him to have to be perfect every single play. It means his defense is going to create opportunities, short fields, favorable situations. He can play smart football instead of heroball. That's how you win consistently in this league. Meanwhile, Garrett gets to do what he does best on a team that's not always going to need him to be the entire defense. That sounds simple, but it matters tremendously.

The narrative here is interesting too, and this is something that matters for fans. The Rams have been a team that's said, "We're going to win now." They went to the Super Bowl in year two of the Sean McVay era with a young team. Then they added more pieces, kept pushing, and won it all. Then they made big moves in the offseason and they're saying, "We're still here, we're not done, and we're adding the best player available." In a league where parity is supposed to be everything, where the salary cap is supposed to keep everybody equal, the Rams are reminding us that smart management and bold decisions still matter.

Now, I've got to be honest with you about this too. Nothing is guaranteed in football. You can have the best quarterback and the best edge rusher and a tremendous roster, and sometimes things just don't work out. That's what makes this sport great. That's what makes every game matter. But what I know for certain is this: if you're going to go all-in, Garrett is one of the guys you want to be all-in with. He's the kind of player who shows up in the biggest moments. He's got that motor that never stops. He understands the game. He's technically proficient and athletically gifted in a way that's unusual for a pass rusher.

The Rams are saying something important with this move. They're saying we believe in our quarterback, we believe in our system, we believe that right now is the moment, and we're going to get the best player we can get to put ourselves over the top. That's bold. That's the kind of thinking that creates championship moments. That's the kind of move you remember when you're sitting in the stadium watching these guys hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

For the fans, here's what this means: You're either going to get to watch one of the greatest one-two combinations of quarterback and edge rusher playing together, or you're going to watch a team try really hard to put it all together and come up short. Either way, it's going to be compelling football. This is what you watch football for right here. This is the stuff that gets you out of your seat.