3 reasons why LA Rams OLB Chris Garrett is ready for a larger role

Reason II – He’s too good not to step up

He didn’t see the field much early in 2021 because he was just not ready. Then he was injured, er, placed on the COVID-19 Reserve List. Because he was hit rather hard, he was quarantined for more than three weeks. That’s not just in a cast on the sidelines, mind you. That is bed rest, hanging out in a hotel room, and basically doing nothing related to football.

That’s a tough task for a rookie, particularly when developing requires a series of staged roles and mastering each one in sequence. He was learning how to play alongside Aaron Donald, how to team up with Leonard Floyd, and he was learning DC Raheem Morris’s defensive scheme and philosophy for the first time, alongside all of his teammates.

No shame in playing behind NFL legends

Finally, he played behind veteran OLBs Leonard Floyd and Von Miller. He was hard-pressed to crack that lineup. Still, he was not encased in carbonite. He was practicing. He was learning from his veteran teammates. He was hitting the weight room, stepping onto the practice field, and improving a little bit each day in the process.

While young players do learn as much as they can in college football, the learning process does not stop there.  Garrett proved in preseason that he has the speed, agility, power, and mindset to succeed at the position. After learning and training for a full year, he has leveled up and is ready to be tasked with more.  While I won’t foolishly proclaim that what he did in college will be repeated in the NFL, I do think that he is too good to sit on the bench and be covered with moss.