Stop grading the Myles Garrett trade off the seven games he missed

People have spent two months grading the Myles Garrett trade, which is ambitious work when the rusher Los Angeles actually bought has been on injured reserve. The Rams activated him Saturday. Ian Rapoport posted that the move was official, after he and Mike Garafolo reported Friday that Garrett had practiced all week and was on track to play at Washington. The Rams' own account listed the same set of moves: Garrett and running back Ronnie Rivers off reserve, and Jaylen Watson onto injured reserve. RotoWire said Garrett has no designation for Sunday, so the club is not putting a snap limit on him in the paperwork.

I have sat in press boxes where a room decides a trade was a bust before the player takes a healthy snap. This one has been getting that treatment since about Week 3. Los Angeles is 4-4, the record CBS Sports hung on all the "superteam" talk when Sean McVay confirmed Friday that Garrett was expected to go. Nate Atkins, writing for The Athletic and NFL.com, put the defensive split in plain numbers: fifth in the league in yards allowed, 12th in points, and tied for 26th with 12 sacks. A year ago the Rams finished tied for seventh with 47 sacks. CBS had them 27th in sack rate (4.4 percent) and 17th in pressure rate heading into this week.

The other side of this is fair. We did see Garrett in a Rams uniform. He played the opener against San Francisco in Australia after a knee issue that, CBS noted, dated to training camp. He had zero tackles on 39 snaps, then said he had to "find a way to recover and get back to the player I know I can be." Arthroscopic surgery followed, and the Rams put him on injured reserve on Sept. 17. He has missed the last seven games after missing two of 85 over the previous five seasons. If you want to argue that a 30-year-old coming off a scoped knee should be brought along slowly, you have the Week 1 tape on your side.

On June 1 the Rams sent Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-rounder and a 2029 third-round pick to Cleveland for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. NFL.com and the teams announced it that day. Garrett had just set the single-season sack record with 23. The Browns called it a long-run decision and pointed to Verse, who is 25, with two Pro Bowls and a Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Andrew Berry had wanted Garrett to be a one-helmet player, then took a package he decided he could not refuse. I don't blame him. Rebuilds need young rushers and picks. Those seven games without Garrett still don't tell you whether the price was right.

Aaron Donald came out of retirement on Aug. 30, according to the Rams' own transaction log, and Atkins wrote that Donald ended a two-year break this summer in part to share a line with another multi-time Defensive Player of the Year. RotoWire noted Sunday would be Garrett's first game working with him. A scoped knee does not owe anyone a sack in Washington. Sunday is the first look at what Los Angeles traded for: Garrett healthy enough to be active, next to the teammate who unretired to play with him, on a defense that has been fine at everything except finishing a rush.

Cleveland can watch it without apology. The Browns got younger, and they said that was the point. If Garrett looks ordinary, you'll hear from me. I have been wrong about enough "he's back" afternoons to know how that column starts. I'd rather write that one than pretend a 4-4 record compiled mostly without him already settled the trade.

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