Less than a week after landing Myles Garrett in a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Browns, the Los Angeles Rams have restructured the contract that came with him – and it’s a big one.
The Rams didn’t negotiate a new deal with Garrett, but they did rework the existing contract, which now pays him $204 million over five years, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Rapoport reported Thursday that Garrett’s total earnings remain roughly the same as what he was set to make in Cleveland.
The tweak moves the vesting date on his guarantees back by a few months – a small but meaningful shift for how the Rams manage their cap situation.
Where the numbers do change is in 2026. Garrett will earn around $37 million that season instead of the $31.5 million he was previously scheduled to make, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. That said, the Rams are essentially borrowing from a later year on the deal – the overall total stays the same. Some option bonuses convert to signing bonuses under the restructure, and workout bonuses that were loaded toward the back end of the contract have been reconfigured as well.
So who exactly are the Rams paying all this money for?
A Season for the Record Books
Garrett is coming off one of the most dominant defensive seasons the NFL has ever seen. In 2025 – his ninth and final year with Cleveland – he racked up 23 sacks, breaking the league’s single-season sack record. That record had stood since Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan set it in 2001, was tied by Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt in 2021, and now belongs to Garrett outright.
The sack record alone would’ve been enough. But Garrett also finished the season with 33 tackles for loss. No other player in the league topped 28 TFLs in 2025.
It wasn’t just volume, either. Despite facing constant double teams and chip blocks – the kind of attention that quietly deflates a pass rusher’s numbers – Garrett ranked third among qualifying defensive linemen in pressure rate at 16.3%, per Next Gen Stats. He also led that group with an average pass rush get-off (the time it takes to cross the line of scrimmage after the snap) of just 0.70 seconds. For a player who’s now 30, that’s elite production.
The Highest-Paid Non-QB Conversation
Back in March 2025, Cleveland gave Garrett a four-year extension averaging $40 million per year – making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. That title has since passed to Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr., who landed a three-year extension reportedly worth $150 million earlier this offseason.
Garrett’s deal is still one of the richest ever handed to a non-QB, and the Rams clearly believe he’s worth every dollar.
LA Is Going All In
The Garrett restructure is just the latest move in what’s shaping up to be a massive offseason for Los Angeles. Before reworking Garrett’s deal, the Rams traded for cornerback Trent McDuffie and locked him into a four-year extension reportedly worth $124 million – the largest contract ever given to a cornerback. McDuffie, a two-time All-Pro, previously won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford is also on a new contract. The Rams are all-in right now, and they’re currently the clear favorites to win the Super Bowl.
With Garrett rushing off the edge and Stafford running the offense, it’s not hard to see why.