Myles Garrett arrives in Los Angeles after a 23-sack season, joining a Rams defence that was already capable of producing pressure without selling out schematically. For San Francisco, the obvious answer is to send extra help towards him. The problem is that Garrett has spent years proving that extra help does not make him disappear; it simply changes where the offence has to pay.
The matchup in six numbers
| Metric | Number | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Garrett sacks, 2025 | 23 | Elite finishing production from the edge. |
| Chip / double-team pass rushes | 186 | Shows how routinely offences changed protection for him. |
| Pressures despite extra help | 32 | Extra protection reduced the problem; it did not erase it. |
| Sacks despite extra help | 8 | Garrett still finished plays even when offences tilted protection toward him. |
| Rams pressure rate, 2025 | 38.0% | Los Angeles already created consistent disruption. |
| Pressure rate with Kobie Turner | 43.2% | Interior pressure gives offences fewer clean help options. |
| Pressure rate without Turner | 27.2% | Illustrates how strongly the rush changes when interior wins disappear. |
The important number is not simply Garrett's sack total. It is the 186 pass-rush snaps on which protection was tilted towards him. That is a large amount of offensive attention devoted to one defender before the quarterback has even begun reading coverage.
What doubling Garrett actually costs San Francisco
A chip from a tight end or running back sounds cheap until the offence starts counting what it gives up. A tight end who has to make contact before releasing is late into the route. A back kept in protection is one fewer immediate checkdown or matchup option. Sliding the line towards Garrett can leave the opposite edge or interior one-on-one.
That matters more against this Rams front than it would against a defence built around one star pass rusher. Los Angeles already had a 38 per cent pressure rate in 2025. Add Garrett to a front that can create interior disruption and the 49ers are not deciding whether to block one great player; they are deciding which part of the protection they are willing to weaken.
| 2025 team baseline | Rams | 49ers |
|---|---|---|
| Points scored per game | 30.5 | 25.7 |
| Points allowed per game | 20.4 | 21.8 |
| Point differential | +172 | +66 |
San Francisco still has enough offensive structure to survive difficult pass-rush matchups. Kyle Shanahan can change the launch point, use play action, build quick-game answers and make the defence defend horizontally. But every protection concession has a knock-on effect. The more resources the offence devotes to Garrett, the easier the assignment becomes for somebody else.
The stat to watch
Do not judge Garrett's Melbourne debut only by sacks. Watch how often San Francisco changes its normal protection for him and what happens on the other side of the formation when it does.
If the 49ers are repeatedly chipping, sliding or keeping an eligible receiver in protection, Garrett is already influencing the offence even on snaps where he never touches the quarterback. His 186 extra-help rushes last season are the clearest evidence of how much attention he commands.
AGN takeaway: Garrett's biggest impact may be measured in the blockers and routes San Francisco has to sacrifice to stop him, not just in his final sack total.