Rookie Chris Garrett will be ideal teammate for LA Rams Aaron Donald

Why Garrett is more than meets the eye

Nobody argued that the collegiate performance of Chris Garrett was anything short of masterful. The pushback came in the form of two arguments. The first from those who believed that he faced far inferior competition in college than he will meet in the NFL. The second is from those who believe that he was too sold-out to get to the quarterback, and would be a huge liability to an NFL defense trying to set the edge or defend against the run.

But he made another eye-popping play, tackling one of the Las Vegas Raiders hottest running backs Trey Ragas for a six-yard loss on first down. Two plays later, Garrett and teammate Jonah Williams sacked Peterman for a five-yard loss. In the next play, Garrett broke up a pass to running back Ragas. On the very next play, Garrett sacked Peterman again, forcing a fumble. While the Raiders recovered the football, Garrett proved in two defensive series that he is more than meets the eye.

Picking up the pace

The latest fad for NFL offenses when matching up against the LA Rams is to dink and dunk the ball. Perhaps the best (or worst) example of that is the offensive game plan used by the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs. They effectively ran the ball at the heart of the Rams defense and then used short high-percentage passing plays to keep the defense off-balance. But they have done so because the tremendous power of Aaron Donald, and his ability to pressure quarterbacks so quickly, has forced offenses to shorten the field.

But even All-Pro Aaron Donald has his limits. Facing multiple blockers and game plans that move the ball away from him have been effective. But now that the LA Rams have a bit of lightning-fast pressure coming from the other side of the football field? What if…?

Garrett proved in the preseason games just how effective he can play without Aaron Donald on the field. He tipped a pass to his teammate for the interception, got a tackle on a running back for a huge loss, got two quarterback sacks, and even forced a fumble. They were all back-to-back plays that occurred over the span of five minutes.  If the LA Rams needed a faster pass rusher to flush out the quarterback like a bird dog flushes out ruffed grouse, then the Rams have their guy.

Garrett is not overly powerful. He is simply built to terrorize quarterbacks off the edge, and he will get the chance to do so this season. To this point in time, the Rams have sought players who would allow Aaron Donald to flush the quarterback out of the pocket and then make the sack. With Garrett, the Rams have a player who can flush the quarterback into Donald’s waiting arms. Donald will pick up the sack because Garrett has picked up the pace.