Myles Garrett’s Rams reset: chasing the career sack record after a historic 23-sack season

Los Angeles didn’t just add another pass rusher when it agreed to trade for Myles Garrett. In Garrett’s mind, the move is a launchpad for something bigger than a single highlight. After setting the NFL’s single-season sack mark with 23 in 2025, Garrett has publicly framed his next career goal around the sport’s oldest sack milestone, the career record of 200 sacks held by Hall of Famer Bruce Smith. “I don’t know how much longer I want to play, but I know there’s a big goal out there, that’s 200,” Garrett said during an interview tied to his introduction to the Rams.

The record-setting season that put Garrett in the conversation with the all-time greats began with a familiar pattern, double teams, chipped edges, and constant attention at the line of scrimmage. But the end result was different this time. With his 23rd sack of the 2025 season, Garrett broke the league’s single-season mark in Week 18 against the Cincinnati Bengals, surpassing Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt, who had been tied at 22.5 sacks. The Browns’ team report on the milestone also noted that Garrett finished the year with multiple multi-sack games and sustained production streaks, the kind of run that turns elite output into record territory.

At the time Cleveland confirmed the trade, Garrett’s career total was listed at 125.5 sacks. That leaves him 74.5 sacks shy of Smith’s 200, a distance that is not impossible for an edge rusher with Garrett’s recent baseline, but it does require durability, volume, and a continued ability to win against the league’s best blocking schemes. In the NFL’s all-time sack leader lists, Smith is consistently identified as the standard-bearer at 200 sacks, reinforcing that Garrett’s target is not a moving one.

Garrett’s change of uniforms is equally significant to the football storyline. On June 1, 2026, the Browns and Rams agreed to the trade, with Cleveland receiving defensive end Jared Verse plus draft compensation, including a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick. The deal was pending a physical, and it represented a sharp shift for both franchises: Cleveland moved from centering its defense around its longstanding defensive centerpiece, while Los Angeles treated the acquisition like a core upgrade to its 2026 roster building.

From the Rams’ perspective, Garrett’s value is not simply that he can produce sacks, it is that he can force offensive game plans. When a player is fresh off an NFL-record sack total, opposing coordinators have limited practical options besides adjusting protection plans, quickening releases, or shifting protection schemes that can open play-action and intermediate throws for the offense’s next read. How the Rams deploy Garrett matters as well, particularly in terms of pressure packages and snaps that maximize his impact without overexposing him to rest-of-season carry limits.

The Browns’ return also frames what comes next for both teams. Cleveland’s stated rationale emphasized a transition into a “new era” built around a younger core, with Verse described by the club as a high-upside, premium-position piece. Meanwhile, the Rams’ addition sets up a clean narrative arc for 2026: Garrett arrives with the league’s sack-record attention on him, and every defensive coordinator in the schedule now has a reason to treat his rush as a roster-wide problem. The next question is straightforward, whether Garrett can turn one record season into the kind of sustained sack pace that keeps the career mark in reach.

For fans, the most watchable on-field benchmarks in the early months will be simple, and they will tell the story without needing predictions. Track Garrett’s sack totals game-by-game relative to what it would take to close a 74.5-sack gap, watch how often he is double-teamed versus single-blocked, and note whether Los Angeles uses him in ways that keep opponents from solving the pressure early. If Garrett’s production holds steady, Smith’s number stops feeling like history and starts feeling like a working target.