Garretts

The Rams knew the resume. Saw the highlights. Gathered all the intel required.

But they were not aware of Myles Garrett’s aura.

How could they?

It’s not tangible, nor easily defined.

It’s just there.

“You just feel him,” coach Sean McVay said Friday.

McVay felt and said that before. About Aaron Donald. About Jalen Ramsey.

But listening to Rams players talk about Garrett, this feels different.

Mystical.

“You can just feel his aura,” cornerback Trent McDuffie said.

Safety Quentin Lake explained it the same way.

“Just his presence,” Lake said, “his aura.”

Rams defensive end Myles Garrett smiles during training camp at Loyola Marymount on July 26.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Myles Garrett effect is not confined to the defense.

“Everybody on the field can kind of feel this aura sitting on whatever side of the field he’s on,” offensive guard Kevin Dotson said. “You just feel this monster energy.”

Garrett, a 10th year pro and two-time NFL defensive player of the year, laughed when asked if he was conscious of his aura.

“I guess,” he said. “It’s great to hear that they have respect for me.”

Garrett, 30, is one of the biggest stars on a star-studded Rams team that is favored to win the Super Bowl, regardless of whether Donald comes out of retirement.

Garrett, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft out of Texas A&M, amassed 125½ sacks in nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He was defensive player of the year in 2023 and also last season, when he recorded a league-record 23 sacks.

In June, the Rams sent edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick and future second- and third-round picks to the Browns for Garrett. He was regarded as the final piece for a franchise intent on winning a second Super Bowl title under McVay.

Garrett is acclimating to Southern California and a team that advanced to the NFC championship game last season before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

“It’s starting to feel like home rather quickly,” he said.

It did not take long for Garrett to ingratiate himself. His skill, work ethic and knowledge are imparted in the meeting room and on the field, edge rusher Byron Young said.

“It’s amazing,” Young said. “It’s art.”

Last season, Young recorded a career-best 12 sacks and was voted to the Pro Bowl.

With Garrett now lining up alongside him, the fourth-year pro is soaking in knowledge and learning from his example. Though Garrett, at 6 feet, 4 inches and 272 pounds, makes plays that can’t be replicated by others.

Myles Garrett (95) takes part in training camp along with wide receivers Puka Nacua (12) and Davante Adams (17) on July 26.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Garrett’s quickness off the ball is “insane,” Young said, noting that Garrett eats up “three or four yards,” with his first step.

“That right there alone is amazing,” Young said.

Garrett’s influence could be magnified if Donald, a three-time defensive player of the year, ends a two-year retirement to pursue another Super Bowl ring.

Garrett said he would not try to sway Donald’s decision. But he acknowledged that it would be exciting to be a “partner in crime” with the eight-time All-Pro.

“There’s a lot we can learn from each other,” Garrett said, “and I’d love to pick his brain on the things he does to attack his matchups and I think the same could be said vice versa.”

During training camp, Garrett and teammates are focused on blending their talents at all three levels of the defense.

Garrett is a “freak athlete for sure,” lineman Kobie Turner said.

Myles Garrett takes part in drills at Rams training camp on July 27.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“We definitely understand the opportunities that should get opened up,” said Turner, who had seven sacks last season, “and if those opportunities don’t open up and they leave him soloed up, he’s going to take advantage.”

There is “no question” Garrett will dominate, Lake said.

“So now,” he said, “it’s just making sure, ‘Hey, can we do our job so this guy can go cut it loose over there too?’”

Garrett has embraced the Rams’ culture, built during McVay’s nine seasons during which the Rams made seven playoff appearances and played in two Super Bowls, winning one.

He is eager to share his knowledge and experience but also learn from younger teammates. The Rams’ defensive front features Young, Turner, and linemen Braden Fiske and Poona Ford, among others.

“This group was doing great without me,” Garrett said. “I want to just try to help elevate other guys and the playmakers that we have here.”

There is still “a lot of rust to knock off,” during camp and the lead-up to the season, he said.

The Rams’ opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, will be their first opportunity to measure the benefit of Garrett’s presence. It’s the start of a season the Rams aim to end with a Super Bowl victory at SoFi Stadium.

“Maybe,” Garrett said, “the aura will increase over time.”

The Rams’ trade for Myles Garrett and subsequent intrigue about whether Aaron Donald would unretire to place two future first-ballot Hall of Famers on the same defensive line has served as an unmistakable reminder that some folks don’t change.

Rams castaway Cooper Kupp still boasts an unexpected wry sense of humor.

Donald’s wife, Erica, can still toss a wet blanket on fiery hearsay by posting a few well-chosen words on social media.

Rams architects Les Snead and Sean McVay can still adroitly motivate a player without pressing too hard.

As for Donald himself, it seems he still harbors a desire to play 26 months after he retired at age 32 at the top of his mayhem-creating game.

The acquisition of Garrett was the tipping point that Donald fueled by telling NFL insider Jordan Schultz in a text: “I’m for sure flirting with the idea. Helluva an opportunity with the Super Bowl in SoFi this year. If I can find the fire, it’s a possibility.”

Kupp, a receiver now with the Seattle Seahawks, was Donald’s fellow All-Pro teammate when the Rams won the Super Bowl in 2022. They remain friendly enough for Kupp to reach out to Donald a few days ago with tongue-in-cheek advice to stay retired.

“I already texted him and told him he’s not allowed. So we’re good,” Kupp told sportscaster Rich Eisen while laughing. “I texted Aaron and said, ‘Don’t even think about it.’ I left it at that, so we’re good. I’m not worried about it. I already nipped it in the bud. No one has to worry.”

Erica Donald’s three-word rebuttal on X to speculation about her husband playing football again was also light-hearted. But it carried the weight of coming from the mother of two of Donald’s four children.

“Y’all are hilarious,” Erica posted.

Enough said?

Responses were respectful but hoped she was kidding.

One fan asked, “MRS.Donald can Aaron come out and play pretty please.”

Another took a similar courteous tone: “Erica, queen of them all… please let the mister give it one more go!”

Ardent Donald fans recall his wife’s response when he retired in 2024, and followers were incredulous that he would do so with seemingly plenty of outstanding football ahead of him.

Erica put the kibosh on the notion that he might change his mind in a 16-second video where she sits next to her husband, who appears to be sleeping while a television in the background is tuned to football.

Looking at her phone camera but speaking to her husband, she says, “Aaron, the people are still asking if you are coming back,” at which point she breaks into laughter because he doesn’t budge. She continues, “All right, guys, I hope that answers your question, ’cuz he is not.”

Less certain now are McVay, the Rams coach since 2017, and Snead, the team’s general manager since 2012. The mere thought of the eight-time All-Pro Donald lining up alongside the five-time All-Pro Garrett is too delicious to ignore.

“If Aaron decides he wants to dust them off at the age of 35, I bet you he could still do it at a pretty high clip,” McVay said during the news conference introducing Garrett.

Snead sounded even more hopeful.

“I do think for the first time since he retired, he’s maybe tempted,” he said. “‘Oh, let’s maybe do one last stand.’ I don’t know if he’s been tempted since he has been retired and I think if you know Aaron at his core, he’s one of those humans that if he doesn’t think he can really, really help, he probably doesn’t want to try.

“But for the first time, I’m betting that he’s tempted. I can sense that. That’s cool that Aaron’s excited, like a lot of our fans, Aaron’s excited about [acquiring Garrett] and he’s probably tempted for the first time.”

For his part, Garrett told Rams broadcaster J.B. Long that he plans to speak to Donald soon.

“I don’t know what his plans are, and I’m not gonna pretend to know,” Garrett said. “I know a lot of people are excited and thrilled about the idea of him coming back, but just being able to talk to him, learn from him, and know that I’ll take all the advice I can.”

Donald’s longtime former teammates are speaking the loudest. Former Rams defensive lineman Michael Brockers, perhaps Donald’s closest friend on the team for seven years, said on a podcast that he has “knowledge that others might not have…. My guy is staying ready so he doesn’t have to get ready.”

And even while kidding, Kupp couldn’t help but say out loud what many Rams followers are thinking.

“I love Aaron, he’s such a good football player, great dude,” he said. “I loved taking the field with him in L.A. I don’t know what’s going to happen. That would be crazy. He’s a very, very good football player.”

Kupp laughed again.

“I don’t care how old he is, how long he’s not played, Aaron Donald is Aaron Donald. But it doesn’t matter because I told him he can’t.”